0CSB  LIBRARY 


GREAT   RELIGIONS   OF 
THE  WORLD 


GREAT     RELIGIONS 

OF      THE 

WORLD 


BY  HERBERT  A.  GILES,  LL.D.  ;  T.  W.  RHYS 
DAVIDS,  LL.D.,  Ph.D.  ;  OSKAR  MANN  ;  SIR 
A.  C.  LYALL,  K.C.B  ,  G.C.I. E.  ;  D.  MENANT ; 
SIR  LEPEL  GRIFFIN,  K. C.S.I.  ;  FREDERIC 
HARRISON;  E.  DENISON  ROSS;  THE  REV. 
M.  CASTER,  Ph.D  ;  THE  REV.  WASHINGTON 
GLADDEN,  D  D.,  LL.D. ;  CARDINAL  GIBBONS 


LONDON   AND  NEW   YORK 
HARPER   £r   BROTHERS   PUBLISHERS 
1901    , 


Copyright,  1900,  1901,  by  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW  PUBLISHING  Co 
All  rights  reserved. 
September,  1901. 

Printed  in  New  York,  U.  S.  A. 


CONTENTS 

CONFUCIANISM    IN  THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  * 
BY   HERBERT    A.    GILES,    LL.D.,    PROFESSOR    OF 
CHINESE  IN  CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY 3 

BUDDHISM.  BY  T.  W.  RHYS  DAVIDS,  LL.D.,  PH.D., 
PROFESSOR  OF  PALI  AND  BUDDHIST  LITERA- 
TURE IN  UNIVERSITY  COLLEGE.  LONDON  ...  33 

MOHAMMEDANISM  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CEN- 
TURY. BY  OSKAR  MANX,  ORIENTALIST  IN  THE 
ROYAL  LIBRARY,  BERLIN 53 

BRAHMINISM.  BY  SIR  A.  C.  LYALL,  K.C.B.,  G.C.I.E., 
MEMBER  OF  COUNCIL  OF  THE  SECRETARY  OF 
STATE  FOR  INDIA 81 

ZOROASTRLYNISM  AND  THE  PARSIS.  BY  D.  ME 
NANT,  AUTHOR  OF  "HISTORY  OF  THE  PARSIS"  .  109 

SIKHISM  AND  THE  SIKHS.  BY  SIR  LEPEL  GRIFFIN, 
K.C.S.I 139 

POSITIVISM:  ITS  POSITION,  AIMS,  AND  IDEALS. 
BY  FREDERIC  HARRISON 167 

BABISM.  BY  E.  DENISON  Ross,  PROFESSOR  OF  PER- 
SIAN LN  UNIVERSITY  COLLEGE,  LONDON  ....  189 

JEWS  AND  JUDAISJ^IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CEN- 
TURY. BY  "THE  REV.  M.  GASTER,  PH.D.,  CHIEF 
RABBI  OF  THE  SEPHARDI  COMMUNITIES  OF  ENG- 
LAND   219 

THE  OUTLOOK  FOR  CHRISTIANITY.  BY  THE  REV. 
WASHINGTON  GLADDEN,  D.D.,  LL.D 253 

'.  CATHOLIC  CHRISTIANITY.    BY  HIS  EMINENCE,  CAR- 
DINAL GIBBONS 281 

iii 


CONFUCIANISM   IN  THE  NINE- 
TEENTH  CENTURY 


CONFUCIANISM   IN  THE   NINE- 
TEENTH  CENTURY 


BETWEEN  1662  and  1796  two  of  China's  great- 
est emperors  occupied  the  throne,  with  a  short 
intervening  reign,  each  of  them  for  over  sixty 
years.  These  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  may 
be  said  to  have  been  chiefly  devoted  to  the  exten- 
sion of  learning  and  the  glorification  of  Confu- 
cianism. A  prodigious  amount  of  literature  was 
produced  under  the  direct  patronage  of  these  two 
monarchs.  Besides  dictionaries  and  encyclopae- 
dias of  various  kinds,  a  vast  collection  of  com- 
mentaries upon  the  Confucian  canon  was  published 
in  1675,  filling  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty large  volumes.  Everything,  in  fact,  was  done 
which,  in  the  words  of  the  Sacred  Edict  (1670), 
would  tend  to  "  get  rid  of  heterodoxy  and  exalt 
the  orthodox  doctrine."  Yet,  during  a  consider- 
able part  of  this  period  of  Confucian  revival, 
Roman  Catholic  missionaries  were  not  only  toler- 
ated, but  even  honored.  Such  treatment,  accord- 
ing to  the  Paraphrase  of  the  Sacred  Edict,  was 
not  for  any  value  attached  to  the  religion  they 

3 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

taught,  which  was  stigmatized  as  unsound,  but 
solely  because  they  understood  astronomy  and 
mathematics,  and  were  usefully  employed  in  re- 
forming the  Chinese  calendar. 

In  1795  the  great  emperor  Chien  Lung,  who  had 
received  Lord  Macartney,  abdicated,  and  three 
years  later  he  died.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
fifteenth  son,  known  to  us  as  the  Emperor  Chia 
Ching,  from  whose  accession  may  be  dated  the 
turning  of  the  tide.  The  new  ruler  proved  to  be 
dissolute  and  worthless.  In  1803  he  was  at- 
tacked while  riding  in  a  sedan-chair  through  the 
streets  of  Peking,  and  had  a  narrow  escape.  This 
was  found  to  be  the  result  of  a  family  plot,  and 
many  of  the  imperial  clansmen  suffered  for  their 
real  or  alleged  share  in  it.  Ten  years  later  a 
band  of  assassins,  belonging  to  a  well-known 
secret  society,  very  nearly  succeeded  in  murder- 
ing him  in  his  own  palace.  The  effect  of  these 
attempts  was  to  develop  the  worst  sides  of  his 
character;  he  became  a  mere  sensualist,  and  even 
gave  up  the  annual  hunting  expedition,  which 
had  always  been  associated  with  Manchu  energy. 
Such  a  man  was  not  likely  to  do  much  for  the 
advancement  of  the  great  teaching  which  was 
founded  upon  such  obligations  as  filial  piety  and 
duty  towards  one's  neighbor.  Some  few  valuable 
works,  aiding  to  elucidate  the  Confucian  canon, 
were  published  during  his  reign,  but  there  was 
no  more  the  same  imperial  stimulus  manifesting 
itself  under  a  variety  of  forms,  such  as  welcome 

4 


CONFUCIANISM 

encouragement,  pecuniary  assistance,  and,  last 
but  not  least,  the  supply  to  deserving  books  of 
prefaces  written  with  the  vermilion  pencil. 

Confucianism  was  not  for  the  moment  exposed 
to  any  attacks.  Roman  Catholicism  had  been 
scotched  by  the  formal  expulsion  of  its  mission- 
aries under  the  edicts  of  1718  and  1724,  and  Prot- 
estants had,  so  far,  not  entered  upon  the  field. 
It  was  only  in  1807  that  the  Rev.  Dr.  Morrison,  of 
dictionary  fame,  went  out  to  Canton;  and  within 
a  year  he  retired  for  safety  and  the  convenience 
of  his  work  to  Macao. 

In  1820  the  emperor  known  to  us  as  Tao  Kuang, 
second  son  of  Chia  Ching,  succeeded  to  the  throne. 
His  courage  had  saved  his  father's  life  on  the 
occasion  of  the  attack  on  the  palace  in  1813,  and 
he  had  been  at  once  named  heir  apparent.  He 
made  a  good  beginning,  and  attempted  to  purify 
the  court;  but  war  with  England,  and  rebellion 
in  various  parts  of  the  empire,  darkened  his 
reign,  and  little  progress  was  made.  Gradually 
he  learned  to  hate  foreigners,  and  opposed  their 
claims;  and,  borrowing  a  saying  some  centuries 
old,  he  declared  that  he  was  not  going  to  allow 
another  man  "to  snore  alongside  of  his  bed." 

There  was,  at  any  rate,  one  great  Confucianist 
who  flourished  during  this  period,  and  strove,  both 
by  his  own  works  and  by  the  patronage  he  ex- 
tended to  others,  to  keep  alive  the  Confucian  spirit. 
Under  the  friendly  auspices  of  Yuan -Yuan  (1764- 
1849)  was  produced,  in  a  uniform  edition,  a  col- 

5 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

lection  of  more  than  one  hundred  and  eighty  sep- 
arate treatises  on  the  canon  by  scholars  of  the 
present  dynasty.  This  work  fills  one  hundred 
and  two  large  volumes,  and  was  intended  to  be  a 
continuation  of  the  similar  collection  published 
in  1675.  Of  course,  every  one  who  is  a  follower  of 
Confucius  may  be  called  a  Confucianist,  but  a 
man  is  specially  so  distinguished  by  the  Chinese 
if  he  has  contributed  to  the  enormous  mass  of 
literature  which  helps  in  any  way  to  explain,  or 
sets  forth  in  glowing  color  and  attractive  form, 
the  holy  teachings  of  the  master. 

The  active  opposition  of  Commissioner  Lin  (1785- 
1850)  to  the  opium  trade,  which  precipitated  the 
war,  was  a  direct  outcome  of  his  careful  training 
in  the  Confucian  school.  The  question  of  moral- 
ity and  the  appeal  to  justice  which  he  introduced 
into  his  famous  letter  to  the  queen,  asking  her  to 
put  a  stop  to  the  opium  trade,  were  both  based 
upon  the  ethics  of  Confucius.  He  not  only  professed 
his  firm  adherence  to  Confucianism,  but  exhibited 
in  his  every-day  life  a  lofty  conception  of  its  ideals. 
He  is  the  one  representative  of  China,  during  this 
reign,  to  whom  all  foreigners  would  ungrudgingly 
accord  the  title  of  an  honest  man  and  a  true  patriot. 

Tao  Kuang  was  succeeded  in  1851  by  his  fourth 
son,  known  to  us  as  the  Emperor  Hsien  Feng. 
The  reign  of  the  latter  is  particularly  associated 
with  the  Tai-ping  rebellion,  which  shook  the  em- 
pire to  its  foundations,  and,  but  for  the  presence 
of  General  Gordon,  would  probably  have  succeed- 

6 


CONFUCIANISM 

ed  in  putting  an  end  to  the  Manchu-Tartar  dynasty. 
In  one  of  its  aspects,  it  was  a  crusade  against  Con- 
fucianism, organized  by  a  small  band  of  men  who 
had  adopted  a  morbid  and  spurious  Christianity. 
The  large  following  which  these  leaders  gathered 
around  their  banner  knew  nothing  whatever  of 
genuine  Christianit3T,  and  very  little  of  the  doc- 
trines offered  them  by  the  soi-disant  Brother  of 
Christ,  afterwards  known  as  the  Heavenly  King. 
As  matters  turned  out,  the  shock  to  Confucianism 
was  a  mere  nothing;  for,  although  the  Heavenly 
King  succeeded  in  capturing  some  six  hundred 
cities  in  sixteen  out  of  the  eighteen  provinces, 
so  soon  as  the  rebellion  was  crushed  (1864)  Con- 
fucianism at  once  and  completely  regained  the 
ground  it  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  lost.  It 
suffered  most,  perhaps,  through  the  destruction 
of  many  printing  establishments  containing  the 
blocks  of  now  priceless  editions  of  valuable  works 
on  the  classics.  On  the  other  hand,  it  can  be  shown 
that  Confucianism  is  sometimes  extremely  sensi- 
tive. It  had  been  enacted  that  the  Sacred  Edict, 
mentioned  above,  should  be  publicly  read  to  the 
people  on  the  1st  and  I5th  of  each  month,  at  every 
important  centre  all  over  the  empire.  This  prac- 
tice had  been  allowed  to  fall  very  much  into  desue- 
tude at  Canton.  But  about  the  year  1850  a  num- 
ber of  educated  Chinese,  taking  alarm  at  the  open 
activity  of  Protestant  missionaries,  actually  form- 
ed themselves  into  a  society  for  reading  and  study- 
ing the  Sacred  Edict  among  themselves. 

7 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

No  one,  of  course,  could  maintain  that  the  mere 
study  of  Confucian  doctrines  would  suffice  to  turn 
out  men  of  high  character,  unless  the  seed  were 
sown  in  minds,  as  Confucius  said,  "fit  for  the 
reception  of  truth."  As  a  counterpoise  to  Com- 
missioner Lin,  we  may  cite  the  case  of  Governor 
Yeh,  whose  action  in  the  Arrow  affair  led  to  the 
bombardment  and  capture  of  Canton  in  1857.  When 
sent  a  prisoner  to  Calcutta,  Yeh  was  asked  why  he 
never  read,  to  pass  the  time.  "  All  the  books  which 
are  worth  reading/'  he  replied,  "  I  already  know 
by  heart."  He  was  alluding  to  the  Confucian 
canon,  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  which  had 
placed  him  high  on  the  list  of  candidates  for  the 
coveted  third  degree.  Yet  this  man  was,  as  an 
official,  little  more  than  a  blood-thirsty  tyrant.  He 
is  said  to  have  put  to  death,  first  and  last,  no  fewer 
than  seventy  thousand  Tai-ping  rebels.  He  had 
also  become  so  unwieldy  from  self-indulgence  that, 
although  disguised  for  flight,  he  was  unable  to 
make  the  necessary  effort  to  evade  his  pursuers. 

In  1 86 1  the  emperor,  who  smoked  opium  to 
excess,  died  at  Jehol,  whither  he  had  fled  to  escape 
from  the  English  and  French  forces,  then  at  the 
gates  of  Peking,  and  his  son,  Tung  Chih,  reigned 
in  his  stead.  Coming  to  the  throne  as  a  mere 
child,  the  latter  remained  during  his  thirteen  3Tears 
of  rule  entirely  under  the  guidance  of  the  empress 
dowager,  so  that  almost  the  first  that  was  heard  of 
him  as  an  emperor  was  that  he  had  fallen  a  victim 
to  small-pox.  He  could  not  have  learned  much 


CONFUCIANISM 

good  about  foreigners  from  his  Confucian  tutors, 
one  of  whom  openly  expressed  his  daily  and  night- 
ly longing  "to  sleep  on  their  skins."  Meanwhile, 
with  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  of  Tientsin,  a 
shadow  fell  across  the  path  of  Confucianism. 
Since  the  days  of  the  opium  war  and  the  partial 
opening  of  China,  the  missionary  question  had 
gradually  entered  upon  the  acute  stage  in  which 
it  may  be  said  to  have  remained  ever  since,  and  it 
had  become  needful  to  insert  in  the  new  treaty 
a  clause  protecting  not  only  the  Christian  religion 
and  its  exponents,  but  its  converts.  This  was, 
and  always  has  been,  resented  by  Confucianists 
as  withdrawing  the  converts  from  their  allegiance ; 
but  it  is  difficult  to  say  what  other  arrangement 
could  have  been  made.  Neither  can  it  be  fairly 
alleged  that  Protestant  missionaries  have  ever 
abused  their  opportunities. 

With  the  close  of  the  Tai-ping  rebellion,  with  a 
settled  government,  and  with  more  prosperous 
times  generally,  the  production  of  books  showed 
marked  signs  of  increase.  Clearly  printed  editions 
of  the  classics  and  kindred  works  were  issued  from 
Wu-chang,  the  capital  of  Hupeh ;  on  execrable  paper 
it  is  true,  but  at  a  price  which  placed  them  easily 
within  reach  of  the  masses. 

In  1872  Tseng  Kuo-fan  died,  at  the  compara- 
tively earl}'  age  of  sixty-one.  He  had  worn  him- 
self out  in  the  service  of  the  state,  first  as  a  suc- 
cessful militanT  commander  and  afterwards  as  a 
successful  administrator.  He  was,  further,  a  suc- 

9 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

cessful  Confucianist,  in  the  sense  that  his  pure 
and  incorrupt  life  was  a  happy  exemplification  of 
what  Confucianism  may  lead  to,  if  only  its  seed  is 
dropped  upon  propitious  soil.  Though  saturated 
with  the  principles  and  teachings  of  Confucian- 
ism, and  undoubtedly  hostile  to  foreigners,  yet  his 
memory  is  hardly  more  honored  among  his  own 
countrymen  than  by  those  whom  he  felt  it  his 
duty  to  oppose.  After  the  Tientsin  massacre  of 
1870  he  advocated  a  policy  of  peace  with  foreign 
nations,  thereby  incurring  the  odium  of  the  more 
fanatical  of  the  literati.  At  his  death  it  was  re- 
ported to  the  throne  that,  "  when  his  wardrobe  was 
examined  to  find  some  suitable  garments  for  the 
last  rites,  nothing  new  could  be  discovered.  Every 
article  of  dress  had  been  worn  many  times;  and 
this  may  be  taken  as  an  example  of  his  rigid 
economy  for  himself  and  in  all  the  expenditure 
of  his  family." 

In  1875  another  child-emperor,  known  to  us  as 
Kuang  Hsu,  was  placed  upon  the  throne  by  the 
empress  dowager.  This  unfortunate  youth  has 
been  severely  battered  by  the  shocks  of  doom. 
The  story  of  the  reform  movement,  and  of  his 
virtual  deposition  in  September,  1898,  is  fresh  in 
the  minds  of  all.  Since  then  we  have  heard  rumors 
of  abdication,  and  again  of  restoration.  Had 
he  remained  in  power,  Confucianism  would  have 
been  forced  to  reconsider  its  attitude  to  foreign 
standards  of  thought  and  education.  But  upon 
his  suspension  it  was  determined  that  the  old  ex- 

10 


CONFUCIANISM 

animation  system,  which  had  prevailed  almost 
unaltered  for  nearly  six  centuries,  with  its  roots 
extending  back  to  the  Christian  era,  should  be  re- 
stored in  its  integrity.  The  introduction  of  "  new, 
depraved,  and  erroneous  subjects,"  by  which  we 
must  understand  modern  scientific  teaching,  was 
to  be  strictly  prohibited  under  various  pains  and 
penalties.  Thus,  the  occupation  of  the  newly  in- 
augurated Peking  University  was  gone.  For  the 
time  being,  Confucianism  is  triumphant;  and  if 
the  tablets  of  women  are  ever  admitted  to  the 
Confucian  temple,  that  of  the  empress  dowager 
should  be  the  first.  Actuated,  probably,  by  selfish 
motives,  her  anti-reform  zeal  has  been  invaluable 
to  those  who  would  maintain  the  paramountcy  of 
Confucian  education,  with  all  its  immediate  influ- 
ences upon  the  governing  classes  of  the  country. 

A  glance  at  a  few  questions  actually  set  some 
few  years  ago  at  these  public  examinations  will 
afford  a  good  idea  of  the  educational  level  to  which 
Confucianism  has  raised  the  Chinese.  The  fol- 
lowing were  subjects  for  essays : 

"  (i.)  To  hold  a  middle  course,  without  deviation,  is  as 
bad  as  holding  an  extreme. 

"  (2.)  Of  suspended  bodies,  none  can  exceed  in  brightness 
the  sun  and  the  moon. 

"  (3.)  In  the  time  of  the  Hsia  dynasty  (B.  C.  2205-1766), 
the  imperial  drum  was  placed  on  feet ;  during  the  Shang 
dynasty  (B.  C.  1766-1122),  it  was  supported  on  pillars; 
under  the  Chou  dynasty  (B.  C.  1122-255),  it  was  hung  by 
a  cord." 

IT 


GREAT   RELIGIONS    OF    THE    WORLD 
For  a  poem,  the  following  theme  was  presented : 

"  The  azure  precipice  was  half  concealed  in  a  mass  of 
rolling  clouds." 

In  addition  to  essays  and  poems,  several  gen- 
eral papers  of  questions  are  set  to  the  candidates. 
These  comprise  classical  exegesis,  history  of  an- 
cient and  mediaeval  China,  ancient  geography, 
etc.,  and  are  almost  identical,  mutatis  mutandis, 
with  papers  on  the  languages  and  literatures  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  such  as  are  set,  for  instance, 
at  the  annual  examination  of  candidates  for  the 
Indian  civil  service.  Here  is  a  specimen  of  a 
classical  question : 

"  Mao  Chang  in  his  edition  of  the  Odes  interprets  '  The 
Guests  at  the  Feast '  to  mean  that  Duke  Wu  was  upbraiding 
Prince  Yu.  Han  Ying  in  his  edition  says  that  Duke  Wu 
is  here  repenting  of  his  fault  of  drunkenness.  Which  editor 
is  to  be  followed?" 

Here  is  a  question  on  the  competitive  system : 

"During  the  Tang  dynasty  (A.  D.  618-907),  personal 
appearance,  fluency  of  speech,  handwriting,  learning,  and 
decision  were  all  taken  into  account  at  the  examinations. 
How  were  the  various  merits  of  the  candidates  tested?" 

It  is  the  fashion  to  deride  the  Chinese  curriculum, 
and  to  cry  out  for  the  introduction  of  "science." 
which  would,  no  doubt,  be  very  advantageous 
in  many  ways.  At  the  same  time,  it  must  be 
confessed  that  the  Chinese  classics  have  had  pre- 
12 


CONFUCIANISM 

cisely  the  effect  attributed  by  Professor  Jebb,  in 
his  lecture  on  "Humanism  in  Education,"  to  the 
classics  of  Greece  and  Rome.  Discarding  the 
past  tense  for  the  present,  his  actual  words  apply 
with  surprising  force  to  the  China  of  to-day : 

"  At  the  close  of  this  century,  the  classics  still  hold  a  virtual 
monopoly,  so  far  as  literary  studies  are  concerned,  in  the 
public  schools  and  universities.  And  they  have  no  cause 
to  be  ashamed  of  their  record.  The  culture  which  they 
supply,  while  limited  in  the  sphere  of  its  operation,  has  long 
been  an  efficient  and  vital  influence,  not  only  in  forming 
men  of  letters  and  learning,  but  in  training  men  who  after- 
wards gain  distinction  in  public  life  and  in  various  active 
careers." 

Several  noble  specimens  of  Confucianists  have 
disappeared  during  the  present  reign.  She*n  Pao- 
cheng  (1819-79),  who  first  distinguished  him- 
self against  the  Tai-ping  rebels,  was  a  stern  Con- 
fucianist  and,  withal,  a  capable  man  of  business. 
In  1867  he  became  director  of  the  Foochow  Ar- 
senal, which  he  started  with  the  aid  of  M.  Prosper 
Giquel,  in  the  face  of  much  opposition,  launching 
his  first  gunboat  in  1869.  Successful  as  an  ad- 
ministrator, he  gained  a  lasting  name  for  probity, 
courage,  and  frugality,  leaving  behind  him  in  ma- 
terial wealth  literally  no  more  than  he  brought 
with  him  into  the  world. 

Another  official  of  the  same  class  was  Ting 
Jih-chang  (1823-82).  He  was  connected  with  the 
arsenals  at  Soochow  and  Foochow.  He  was  a 
commissioner  for  the  settlement  of  cases  arising 

13 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

out  of  the  Tientsin  massacre.  He  became  govern- 
or of  Fuhkien,  and  in  1878  was  sent  to  Foochow  to 
arrange  a  very  serious  missionary  difficulty  in 
connection  with  some  building  operations.  A 
Confucianist  to  the  backbone,  he  earned  the  full 
respect  of  all  foreigners,  and  when  he  withdrew 
into  private  life  he  carried  with  him  a  spotless 
reputation. 

With  such  a  father  as  Ts£ng  Kuo-fan,  whose  dy- 
ing injunctions  to  his  children  compare  favorably 
with  Lord  Chesterfield's  advice  to  his  son,  it  is  hard- 
ly a  matter  for  wonder  that  the  Marquis  Tseng 
(1837-90),  once  ambassador  to  the  Court  of  St. 
James,  should  have  continued  the  best  traditions 
of  Confucianism.  He  promoted  to  his  utmost  the 
establishment  of  peaceful  relations  between  China 
and  foreign  nations,  and  his  death  was  a  severe 
loss  to  Great  Britain  in  particular. 

Probity,  like  its  opposite,  seems  to  run  in  families. 
In  the  same  year  with  the  Marquis  Tseng  died  his 
uncle,  Tse*ng  Kuo-chuan,  younger  brother  of  Tseng 
Kuo-fan.  He  had  risen  to  be  Viceroy  of  the  Two 
Kiang,  and  had  consequently  held  the  lives  and 
fortunes  of  myriads  of  his  countrymen  in  the  palm 
of  his  hand.  It  is  only  necessary  to  add  that  at 
his  death  the  people  of  Nanking  went  into  public 
mourning,  from  which  it  may  be  inferred  that,  given 
the  right  material,  Confucianism  need  be  no  hin- 
derance  to  an  upright  and  unblemished  career. 

One  eminent  Confucianist  is  still  working  for  his 
cause,  in  a  manner  which  compels  the  admira- 


CONFUCIANISM 

tion  of  his  opponents.  Chang  Chih-tung,  Viceroy 
of  the  Two  Hu,  devotes  much  of  the  time  which 
he  can  snatch  from  a  busy  life  to  the  encourage- 
ment of  Confucian  learning.  He  has  founded  a 
college  and  a  library  for  the  benefit  of  poor  stu- 
dents. He  is  a  poor  man  himself,  in  spite  of 
the  high  posts  he  has  filled.  He  is  master  of  a 
trenchant  style,  and  has  written  against  the  opium 
habit  and  against  the  practice  of  cramping  wom- 
en's feet.  He  is  hostile  to  foreigners  and  to  Chris- 
tianity, from  the  very  natural  desire  to  see  his 
own  countrymen  and  Confucianism  paramount. 
Yet  he  is  known  to  the  general  public  as  the  one 
incorruptible  viceroy. 

Manners  and  customs,  convenient  or  incon- 
venient, if  founded,  as  many  of  them  are,  upon 
the  authority  of  the  Confucian  canon,  remain 
fixed  in  the  national  life  even  more  deeply  than 
is  found  to  be  the  case  among  Western  peoples. 
The  practice  of  employing  a  go-between  in  mar- 
riage, the  illegality  of  marriages  between  persons 
of  the  same  surname,  the  unwritten  regulation 
that  the  axle-trees  of  all  carts  in  the  same  district 
shall  be  of  uniform  length  —  these  and  many 
similar  customs,  fully  in  force  at  the  present  day, 
are  based  upon  well-known  passages  to  be  found 
in  different  parts  of  the  canon.  Especially  has 
the  patriarchal  system  taken  deep  root,  so  deep,  in 
fact,  that,  short  of  an  entire  upheaval,  it  is  not 
easy  to  see  how  it  can  ever  be  eliminated  from 
the  social  life  of  China,  over  which  its  domination 

15 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

is  complete.  Since  the  days  of  Confucius,  with 
filial  piety  as  its  foundation-stone,  patriarchalism 
has  prevailed  over  the  empire,  the  unit  of  civiliza- 
tion being  not  the  individual,  but  the  family.  The 
father,  and  after  his  death  the  mother,  has  ab- 
solute power  over  all  the  children,  until  the  sons 
enter  upon  an  official  career,  when  they  can  be 
reached  only  with  the  consent  of  the  emperor, 
and  until  the  daughters  pass  by  marriage  under 
the  patria  potestas  of  another  family.  At  eighteen 
or  nineteen  the  sons  marry,  and  bring  their  wives 
under  the  paternal  roof.  The  eldest  brother  suc- 
ceeds to  the  headship  and  responsibilities  of  the 
family,  and  the  subordination  of  his  younger 
brothers  to  him  is  only  less  marked  than  that  of 
his  children. 

Altogether  the  patriarchal  system  has  mam7 
advantages.  It  knits  close  the  family  ties.  All 
earnings  or  income  go  to  a  common  fund;  and 
individuals,  in  days  of  failure  and  distress,  are 
not  left  to  their  own  resources.  Labor  is  thereby 
provided  with  a  defence  against  capital,  and  a 
steady  equilibrium  is  maintained.  It  is,  no  doubt, 
a  check  to  individual  enterprise,  and  a  direct  en- 
couragement to  clannishness  and  its  evils.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  equally  an  encouragement  to 
morality  and  thrift.  One  thing  is  quite  certain — 
either  it  is  admirably  adapted  to  the  temper  of 
the  Chinese  people  or  a  long  communion  has 
adapted  them  to  it. 

The  Confucian  temple,  mentioned  above,  de- 

16 


CONFUCIANISM 

serves  particular  notice,  playing  as  it  does  an  im- 
portant part  in  what  may  be  called,  for  the  want 
of  a  better  term,  the  state  religion  of  China.  Al- 
most since  the  death  of  Confucius  himself,  certain- 
ly since  the  second  century  B.  C.,  there  appears 
to  have  been  some  sort  of  shrine  commemorative  of 
his  name  and  teachings.  At  the  present  moment 
there  must  be  what  is  called  a  Confucian  temple, 
distinguishable  by  its  red  walls,  in  all  cities  above 
a  certain  rank  throughout  the  empire.  In  those 
temples  are  ranged,  in  a  particular  order,  a  large 
number  of  tablets  inscribed  with  the  names  of 
Confucius  and  of  his  disciples,  of  Mencius,  and  of 
various  great  men  whose  personal  efforts  have  in 
past  times  contributed  to  keep  alight  the  torch 
of  Confucianism.  Many  tablets  have,  doubtless, 
slipped  in  which  ought  not  to  be  there,  and  some 
names  with  indisputable  claims  have  been  ex- 
cluded ;  but,  altogether,  the  collection  is  fairly  rep- 
resentative of  the  class  intended,  and  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  literary  Valhalla  of  China.  Twice 
a  year,  in  spring  and  in  autumn,  offerings  of  food 
and  wine  are  set  out  before  these  tablets.  Early 
in  the  morning  the  local  officials,  in  full  dress, 
assemble  at  the  temples;  musicians  play,  the 
officials  burn  incense  and  prostrate  themselves 
before  the  tablet  of  Confucius,  and  a  troupe  of 
trained  performers  go  through  certain  set  move- 
ments, after  the  style  of  the  tragedy  dances  of 
ancient  Greece.  The  whole  ceremony  is  com- 
memorative, not  intercessory  or  propitiatory  in 
B  17 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

any  sense,  no  form  of  prayer  being  used.  Yet  it 
has  been  scouted  by  many  missionaries  as  wor- 
ship, in  the  same  way  as  the  ceremonies  com- 
memorative of  ancestors  have  been  scouted,  with 
more  justification,  as  ancestral  worship. 

Every  Chinese  family  possesses  a  shrine,  be  it 
only  a  shelf,  where  stand  the  wooden  tablets  of 
ancestors.  Before  these,  incense  is  burned  daily, 
with  ceremonial  prostrations.  Twice  a  month, 
bowls  of  food  are  offered  in  addition.  Once  eve^ 
year,  at  a  certain  date  in  spring,  all  respectable 
Chinamen  make  an  effort  to  visit  their  ancestral 
burying-grounds.  The  spirit-path  leading  to  the 
grave  is  swept ;  the  tomb  itself  is  carefully  dusted ; 
food  and  wine  are  offered  up;  and  pieces  of  paper 
supposed  to  represent  money  are  burned  in  large 
quantities.  The  food  and  wine  are  intended,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  masses,  for  the  spirits  to  eat  and 
drink;  and  the  fact  that  neither  one  nor  the  other 
is  ever,  to  all  appearances,  touched,  is  explained 
by  saying  that  the  spirits  consume  only  the  fla- 
vor, leaving  the  grosser  parts  as  they  were.  The 
money  is  supposed  to  pass  through  the  agency  of 
fire  into  the  possession  of  the  spirits  for  whom 
it  is  intended,  and  to  be  of  actual  use  to  them  in 
their  spiritual  condition;  but,  to  show  that  such 
superstitions  have  simply  overlaid  the  earlier  and 
purer  element  in  the  custom,  it  may  be  men- 
tioned that  coined  money  was  not  known  until 
nearly  three  centuries  after  the  death  of  Con- 
fucius. The  same  test  may  be  applied  equally 

18 


CONFUCIANISM 

with  regard  to  geomancy,  without  the  aid  of  which 
no  site  for  a  grave  is  ever  finally  chosen. 

What  Confucius  thought  about  even  a  simple 
commemorative  ceremonial  is  difficult  to  gather 
from  his  shadow}7  utterances,  such  subjects  being 
uncongenial  to  him.  It  is  recorded  of  him  that 
"he  made  his  oblations  as  ufough  the  dead  were 
present,"  which  need  not  be  pressed  to  mean  more 
than  that  his  observance  of  the  ceremonial  was 
earnest  rather  than  perfuncton7".  The  general 
public,  however,  are  inclined  to  interpret  the  words 
literally,  and  it  is  now  customary  to  add  a  short 
prayer  asking  for  the  blessing  of  the  departed 
upon  all  family  undertakings.  From  the  general 
spirit,  however,  of  the  teachings  of  Confucius, 
it  seems  clear  that  he  would  not  have  sanctioned 
superstitious  rites.  Offerings  of  food  and  wine, 
as  may  be  seen  from  the  Odes,  were  presented  to 
departed  spirits  long  before  his  time;  and,  at  the 
utmost,  he  would  be  merely  approving  an  already 
established  system.  The  offerings  themselves 
were  probably  regarded  by  him  much  as  we  re- 
gard offerings  of  wreaths  and  flowers  at  the  tombs 
of  departed  relatives  or  heroes,  scarcely  as  an  ap- 
peal to  the  physical  senses  of  the  dead. 

The  learned  Jesuits  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
headed  by  Ricci,  declared  the  ancestral  worship 
of  the  Chinese  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  civil  rite, 
and  in  no  way  incompatible  with  the  profession  of 
the  Christian  faith;  and  had  this  declaration  been 
allowed  to  stand,  the  probability  is  that  the  Catholic 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

religion  would  now  be  the  religion  of  China.  The 
Jesuits  were  opposed,  however,  by  the  ignorant 
Dominicans;  and,  the  question  being  referred  to 
the  pope,  it  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  latter.  A 
great  opportunity  was  thus  missed.  Some  Prot- 
estant missionaries  have  been  inclined  to  extend 
a  degree  of  toleration  to  ancestral  worship.  Others 
have  gone  so  far  as  to  make  it  a  rule  to  refuse  bap- 
tism to  responsible  adults  unless  the  ancestral 
tablets  have  been  previously  handed  over.  The 
importance  of  this  cult  at  the  present  day  may 
be  gauged  by  an  imperial  edict,  in  which  Li  Hung 
Chang  is  instructed  to  desecrate  and  destroy  the 
ancestral  tombs  of  the  fugitive  reformer,  Rang 
Yu-wei. 

Many  learned  Chinese  have  labored  to  show 
that  the  Three  Teachings — meaning  Buddhism, 
Taoism,  and  Confucianism — are  in  reality  at  one. 
Confucianism  is  now  completely  tolerant  of  the 
other  two.  Without  public  temples,  and  without 
a  priesthood,  it  exists  by  virtue  of  its  influence 
alone,  while  the  teachings  of  the  Buddhist  and 
Taoist  are  amply  supported  by  all  the  instrumental 
details  which  so  much  commend  a  religion  to  the 
masses.  An  important  compromise  has  been 
affected,  to  which  this  happy  tolerance  is  due. 
On  every  Buddhist  and  Taoist  altar  there  stands, 
practically  out  of  sight,  hidden  among  candle- 
sticks, vases  of  flowers,  and  incense  -  burners,  a 
small  tablet,  recording  more  by  its  presence  than 
by  its  inscription,  which  is  about  the  equivalent 

20 


CONFUCIANISM 

of  "God  save  the  Queen,"  as  something  indepen- 
dent of  all  religious  bias,  political  allegiance  to 
his  Majesty  the  Emperor.  Confucianism  asks 
for  no  more;  it  will  not  even  permit  any  effigy  or 
likeness  of  Confucius  to  be  set  up  in  any  such 
place  of  worship.  The  exhibition  of  this  tablet 
offers  a  fair  comparison  with  the  exhibition  of 
the  royal  arms  once  so  frequently  seen  on  the 
tower  arches  of  churches,  but  not  now  regarded  as 
a  necessary  item  in  church  decoration.  Christian 
missionaries  have  not  seen  their  way  to  the  same 
compromise.  They  have  usually  shown  them- 
selves unduly  sanguine  as  to  some  imaginary 
canker  eating  out  the  heart  of  Confucianism.  In 
1861  Dr.  Legge  wrote  of  Confucius  as  follows: 
"His  influence  has  been  wonderful,  but  it  will 
henceforth  wane.  My  opinion  is,  that  the  faith 
of  the  nation  in  him  will  speedily  and  extensively 
pass  away."  Forty  years  have  passed  since  these 
words  were  penned,  yet  the  hold  of  his  wonderful 
influence  seems  to-day  as  strong  as  ever.  And 
this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that,  as  has  been  shown 
above,  little  or  nothing  has  been  done  by  the  em- 
perors of  the  nineteenth  century  to  stimulate  zeal 
in  the  cause. 

Those  missionaries  have  done  well  who  have 
recognized  the  depth  and  strength  of  this  influence. 
At  the  missionary  conference  in  1877,  Dr.  Edkins 
used  these  words : 

"  Confucianism  is  the  citadel  of  the  enemy,  raising  its 
battlements  high  into  the  clouds  and  manned  by  multitudes 

21 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

who  are  animated  by  a  belief  in  their  .superiority  and  their 
invincible  strength.  The  taking  of  this  fortress  is  the  con- 
clusion of  the  war." 

The  late  Dr.  Carstairs  Douglas,  a  high  author- 
ity, also  said  that  he  thought 

"Confucianism  a  far  greater  enemy  to  Christianity  than 
Buddhism  or  Taoism,  just  as  Mohammedanism  in  India  and 
Africa  is  a  greater  enemy  than  heathenism;  in  each  case 
for  the  same  reason,  because  of  the  large  amount  of  truth  it 
contained.  Missionaries  ought  to  study  Confucianism  care- 
fully, and  thankfully  use  all  that  is  good  in  it,  pointing  out 
its  great  deficiencies  and  wisely  correcting  its  errors." 

The  late  Dr.  Faber  reduced  the  chief  of  these 
errors  to  twenty-four  in  number,  exception  to  some 
of  which  might  possibly  be  taken  by  differently 
constituted  minds — e.  g.,  "the  assertion  that  cer- 
tain musical  melodies  influence  the  morals  of  the 
people  is  absurd." 

In  1877  Dr.  Legge  stated  that  the  impression 
left  on  him  by  Confucianism  was  as  follows : 

"  With  very  much  that  is  good  in  it,  it  still  is  rather  hum- 
drum and  inadequate  to  the  requirements  of  our  humanity, 
a  bed  shorter  than  that  upon  which  a  man  can  stretch  him- 
self, and  a  covering  narrower  than  that  in  which  he  can 
wrap  himself." 

The  Rev.  A.  Smith,  author  of  Chinese  Charac- 
teristics, says: 

"  It  is  acknowledged  that  there  is  in  Confucianism  much 
that  is  excellent  concerning  the  relations  of  man,  and  many 
points  in  which  the  doctrines  of  Christian  revelation  are 
almost  echoed." 

22 


CONFUCIANISM 

If  such  be  the  case,  it  would  seem  that  the  sooner 
missionaries  devote  themselves  to  a  close  study  of 
Confucian  doctrines,  the  better.  This  view  pre- 
vails now  much  more  widely  than  a  few  years 
ago.  In  the  preface  to  his  Les  Quatre  Livres, 
1895,  Pere  Couvreur,  S.  J.,  declares  that: 

"  L 'etude  de  la  litterature  est  particulierement  recommandee 
aux  missionaries,  pour  attirer  les  infideles  et  les  preparer  a 
recevoir  les  enseignements  chretiens." 

Mr.  Teitaro  Suzuki  has  recently  given  similar 
testimony,  without  reference  to  Christianity : 

"In  Confucius  and  his  doctrine  are  solidly  crystallized  the 
essence  and  the  ideal  of  the  Chinese  people.  When  we  un- 
derstand Confucius,  we  understand  the  Chinese." 

It  is  difficult,  however,  to  see  what  real  fusion 
can  be  brought  about  of  Christianity  with  Con- 
fucianism. We  are  confronted,  on  the  threshold 
of  the  latter,  by  the  dogma  that  man  is  born  good, 
and  that  his  lapse  into  evil  is  wholly  due  to  his 
environment.  Here  Christianity  would  find  a  com- 
promise impossible.  It  has  scarcely  the  accom- 
modating breadth  of  Buddhism,  which  established 
itself  in  Japan  in  the  sixth  century  A.  D.,  not  by 
denouncing  the  false  gods  of  the  Japanese,  but  by 
promptly  canonizing  all  the  Shinto  ancestor-gods 
as  Bodhisatvas,  second  only  to  Buddha  him- 
self. But  it  might  be  possible  to  take  a  hint  from 
Pope  Gregonr,  who  in  A.  D.  601  addressed  a 
letter  to  the  Abbot  Mellitus,  then  starting  for 

23 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

England,  pointing  out  that  the  temples  of  the 
English  ought  not  to  be  destroyed,  but  rather 
"converted  from  the  worship  of  devils  to  the  ser- 
vice of  the  true  God,  that  the  nation  .  .  .  may 
the  more  familiarly  resort  to  the  places  to  which 
they  have  been  accustomed/'  The  old  sacrifices 
were  also  to  be  retained  in  form,  "  to  the  end  that, 
while  some  gratifications  are  outwardly  permit- 
ted them,  they  may  the  more  easily  consent  to 
the  inward  consolations  of  the  grace  of  God." 
Dr.  Legge  wrote,  in  1877: 

"  Christianity  cannot  be  tacked  on  to  any  heathen  re- 
ligion as  its  complement,  nor  can  it  absorb  any  into  itself 
without  great  changes  in  it  and  additions  to  it.  Missionaries 
have  not  merely  to  reform,  though  it  will  be  well  for  them 
to  reform  where  and  what  they  can ;  they  have  to  revolution- 
ize ;  and,  as  no  revolution  of  a  political  kind  can  be  effected 
without  disturbance  of  existing  conditions,  so  neither  can  a 
revolution  of  a  people's  religion  be  brought  about  without 
heat  and  excitement.  Confucianism  is  not  antagonistic  to 
Christianity,  as  Buddhism  and  Brahmanism  are.  It  is  not 
atheistic  like  the  former,  nor  pantheistic  like  the  latter.  It  is, 
however,  a  system  whose  issues  are  bounded  by  earth  and  by 
time ;  and,  though  missionaries  try  to  acknowledge  what  is 
good  in  it,  and  to  use  it  as  not  abusing  it,  they  cannot  avoid 
sometimes  seeming  to  pull  down  Confucius  from  his  eleva- 
tion. They  cannot  set  forth  the  gospel  as  the  wisdom  of 
God  and  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation,  and  exhort  to  the 
supreme  love  of  God  and  of  Christ,  without  deploring  the 
want  of  any  deep  sense  of  sin,  and  of  any  glow  of  piety  in  the 
followers  of  the  Chinese  sage.  Let  them  seek  to  go  about 
their  work  everywhere — and  I  believe  they  can  do  so  more 
easily  in  China  than  in  other  mission  fields — in  the  spirit 

24 


CONFUCIANISM 

of  Christ,  without  striving  or  crying,  with  meekness  and 
lowliness  of  heart.  Let  no  one  think  any  labor  too  great  to 
make  himself  familiar  with  the  Confucian  books.  So  shall 
missionaries  in  China  come  fully  to  understand  the  work 
they  have  to  do ;  and  the  more  they  avoid  driving  their  car- 
riages rudely  over  the  master's  grave,  the  more  likely  are 
they  soon  to  see  Jesus  enthroned  in  his  room  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people." 

The  Rev.  A.  Smith  would  carry  the  crusade  to 
extremes.  Summing  up  his  fascinating,  though 
one-sided,  volume  above  quoted,  he  says : 

"  The  manifold  needs  of  China  we  find,  then,  to  be  a  single 
imperative  need.  It  will  be  met  permanently,  completely, 
only  by  Christian  civilization." 

Forty  years  ago  the  "manifold  needs"  of  Japan 
were  pretty  much  what  those  of  China  are  at  the 
present  day.  All  those  needs,  save  one,  have 
been  supplied;  and  Japan  now  takes  an  impor- 
tant rank  among  the  nations  of  the  world.  She 
has  little  or  no  religion,  and  does  not  seem  to  wish 
to  have  any  more.  Her  ethical  code,  upon  which 
the  morals  of  her  people  are  based,  is  a  legacy 
from  the  days  when  every  educated  Japanese  was 
a  Confucianist.  It  is  a  practical,  workaday  code, 
setting  forth  a  not  unattainable  ideal.  It  teaches 
virtue  for  virtue's  own  sake,  and  can  no  more  be 
held  responsible  for  the  evils  which  flourish  in 
China  than  Christianity  can  be  held  responsible 
for  the  evils  which  flourish  in  England.  Yet  this 

25 


is  overlooked  to  a  wide  extent.  Dr.  Legge  traced 
the  lying  habits  of  the  Chinese  directly  to  the 
example  of  Confucius  himself,  on  the  strength  of 
three  passages,  one  of  which  occurs  in  an  admit- 
tedly spurious  work.  In  the  first,  Confucius  ap- 
plauds the  modesty  of  an  officer,  who,  after  boldly 
bringing  up  the  rear  on  the  occasion  of  a  retreat, 
refused  all  praise  for  his  gallant  behavior,  at- 
tributing his  position  rather  to  the  slowness  of 
his  horse.  In  the  second,  an  unwelcome  visitor 
calling  on  Confucius,  the  master  sent  out  to  say  he 
was  sick,  at  the  same  time  seizing  his  harpsichord 
and  singing  to  it,  "in  order  that  Pei  might  hear 
him."  Dr.  Legge  lays  no  stress  on  the  last  half 
of  this  story,  though  it  is  impossible  to  believe 
that  its  meaning  can  have  escaped  his  notice  al- 
together. Lastly,  when  Confucius  was  once  taken 
prisoner  by  the  rebels,  he  was  released  on  con- 
dition of  not  proceeding  to  Wei.  'Thither,  not- 
withstanding, he  continued  his  route,"  and  when 
asked  by  a  disciple  whether  it  was  right  to  violate 
his  oath,  he  replied :  "  It  was  a  forced  oath.  The 
spirits  do  not  hear  such." 

It  seems  almost  to  be  now  recognized  that  the 
time  has  come  for  giving  up  frontal  attacks  upon 
Confucianism.  Apart  from  ancestral  worship  and 
the  dogma  that  man  is  born  in  righteousness, 
there  is  really  very  little  to  attack,  and  the  onset 
would  be  better  diverted  in  the  direction  of  Bud- 
dhism and  Taoism.  The  cardinal  virtues  which 
are  most  admired  by  Christians  are  fully  inculcated 

26 


CONFUCIANISM 

in  the  Confucian  canon,  and  the  general  practice 
of  these  is  certainly  up  to  the  average  standard 
exhibited  by  foreign  nations.  When  the  first 
Chinese  ambassador  to  England,  Kuo  Sung-tao, 
was  leaving  England  for  home,  he  said  plain- 
ly that  while  in  material  civilization  we  were  far 
ahead  of  China,  our  national  morality  was  nothing 
less  than  shocking.  It  must,  indeed,  seem  strange 
to  a  Confucianist  that,  with  all  our  boasted  influ- 
ences of  Christianity,  it  should  still  be  neces- 
sary, for  instance,  to  organize  a  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children,  the  ill-treat- 
ment of  children  being  quite  unknown  in  China. 
Female  infanticide  has,  indeed,  been  charged  upon 
Confucianism,  but  the  glaring  absurdity  of  such 
a  charge  can  be  made  manifest  in  a  few  words.  It 
is  possible  actually  to  prove  a  negative,  and  show 
that  extensive  infanticide  cannot  be  practised  in 
China.  Every  Chinaman  throughout  the  empire, 
with  the  very  rarest  exceptions,  marries  young. 
If  his  wife  dies,  he  marries  again;  it  is  not 
thought  proper  for  widows  to  remarry,  though 
some  do  so.  Many  well-to-do  Chinamen  take  con- 
cubines; some  two,  three,  and  even  four.  There- 
fore, unless  there  is  an  enormous  disparity  in  the 
numbers  of  boys  and  girls  born,  infanticide  must 
be  reduced  to  very  narrow  limits.  Yet,  as  late 
as  May,  1897,  Mrs.  Isabella  Bishop  said,  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Zenana  Missionary  Societj^,  that 
"of  eleven  Bible-women  whom  she  had  seen  at  a 
meeting  in  China,  there  was  not  one  that  had  not 

27 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

put  an  end  to  at  least  five  girl-babies."  It  is  a 
work  of  supererogation  to  add  that  few  China- 
women bear  five  children. 

Buddhism,  which  may  once  have  been  a  religion 
of  pure  and  lofty  conceptions,  is  now,  as  seen  in 
China,  nothing  more  than  a  collection  of  degrad- 
ing superstitions,  entirely  beneath  the  notice  of  an 
educated  Confucianist.  Its  tonsured  priests  are 
despised  and  ridiculed  by  the  people,  who  openly 
speak  of  them  as  "bald-headed  asses."  Taoism, 
once  a  subtle  system  of  philosophy,  has  been  de- 
based in  like  manner.  It  has  borrowed  some  of 
the  worst  features  of  Buddhism,  which  has  in 
turn  appropriated  several  of  the  absurdities  of 
Taoism.  The  two,  after  centuries  of  rivalry,  have 
long  since  flourished  peacefully  side  by  side. 

With  all  its  merits,  Confucianism  is  seriously 
wanting  in  attractiveness  to  the  masses,  who  really 
know  very  little  about  it.  It  is  a  system  for  the 
philosopher  in  his  study,  not  for  the  peasant  at  the 
plough-tail.  It  offers  no  consolations  of  any  kind, 
save  those  to  be  derived  from  a  consciousness  of 
having  done  one's  duty.  The  masses,  who  respect 
learning  and  authority  above  all  things,  accept 
Confucianism  as  the  criterion  of  a  perfect  life. 
They  daily  perform  the  ceremonies  of  ancestral 
worship  in  all  loyalty  of  heart,  and  then  go  off 
and  satisfy  other  cravings  by  the  practice  of  the 
rites  and  ceremonies  of  Buddhism  and  Taoism, 
which  have  so  much  more  to  offer  by  way  of  re- 
ward. Still,  wherever  Chinamen  go  they  carry 

28 


CONFUCIANISM 

with  them  in  their  hearts  the  two  leading  features 
of  Confucianism,  the  patriarchal  system  and  an- 
cestral worship. 

During  the  past  centur\T,  the  sphere  of  Con- 
fucian influence  has  been  enormously  widened. 
Not  to  mention  increase  of  population  within  the 
boundaries  of  China  proper,  there  has  been  ex- 
tension and  consolidation  in  Turkestan,  or  the 
New  Dominion,  won  by  the  victorious  arms  of 
Tso  Tsung-tang  in  his  campaigns  of  1871-1878. 
Emigration,  which  was  almost  unknown  in  1800, 
is  in  1900  an  every-day  detail  at  the  ports  of  south- 
ern China. 

According  to  the  favorite  Chinese  theory  of 
"fulness  and  decay/'  it  would  only  be  expected 
that,  after  such  a  period  of  prosperity  as  was  wit- 
nessed in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  cen- 
turies, the  doctrine  should  suffer  a  temporary 
eclipse.  Still,  if  this  century  has  not  been  actually 
propitious  to  the  peaceful  development  of  Con- 
fucianism, opposition  to  Christian^  has  cer- 
tainly proved  a  great  stimulus,  calling  forth  its 
worst  features  instead  of  its  best — militant  feat- 
ures of  bigotry  and  fanaticism,  of  which  Con- 
fucius, whose  daily  texts  were  reciprocitj'  and 
forbearance,  would  have  been  the  last  to  approve. 
Of  this  school,  Chou  Han,  the  fiend  who  excites 
villagers  to  murder  peaceable  missionaries,  their 
wives  and  children,  is  the  great  living  exemplar. 
Yet  he,  like  the  arch-fiend,  should  get  his  due. 
His  own  creed  has  often  been  attacked  in  a  manner 

29 


the  reverse  of  tactful,  well  calculated  to  goad  even 
the  mildest-mannered  Confucianist  to  fury. 

If  Buddhism  and  Taoism  could  be  displaced 
by  Christianity,  and  Confucianism  be  recognized 
in  its  true  sense  as  a  pure  cult  of  virtue,  with  com- 
memorative ceremonies  in  honor  of  its  founder 
and  of  family  ancestors  who  have  gone  before, 
one  great  barrier  between  ourselves  and  the  Chinese 
would  be  broken  down  forever. 

HERBERT  ALLEN  GILES. 


BUDDHISM 


BUDDHISM 


THE  contrast  between  the  rapidity  with  which 
Buddhism,  in  the  early  centuries  of  its  history, 
spread  over  all  adjoining  lands,  and  its  apparent 
inertness  in  these  later  centuries  is  very  striking. 
We  are  only  just  beginning  to  gather  the  facts  as 
to  its  original  progress.  And  modern  Buddhists 
are  not  in  the  habit  of  making  any  parade  of  their 
intentions,  or  even  of  their  hopes.  Any  attempt, 
therefore,  to  explain  this  contrast,  or  to  form  a 
judgment  as  to  whether  it  is  likely,  or  not,  to  be 
permanent  is  beset  with  difficulty,  and  must  be 
subject  to  revision. 

It  will  not  be  without  interest,  however,  to  state 
shortly  wrhat  is  at  present  known  on  the  matter, 
and  to  refer  to  some  of  those  points  which  will  be 
important,  or  at  least  suggestive,  in  any  ultimate 
decision. 

There  are,  of  course,  no  statistics  available  as  to 
the  number  of  the  adherents  of  the  reforming 
movement  in  the  early  days  of  Buddhism.  But 
the  ground  had  been  well  prepared.  Gotama,  the 
Buddha,  was  careful  in  all  his  discourses  to  build 
on  foundations  already  laid.  He  not  only  claimed 
C  33 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

to  be,  but  in  fact  was,  for  the  most  part,  a  teacher 
who  took  up  and  emphasized  the  best  teaching 
of  the  past.  On  certain  points  only  were  his  doc- 
trines new.  The  most  important  and  far-reach- 
ing of  these  points  was  his  ignoring  the  then  uni- 
versally accepted  theory  of  a  soul;  that  is,  of  a 
vague  and  subtle,  but  real  and  material,  entity 
supposed  to  reside  during  life  within  the  body, 
and  to  fly  out,  at  death,  usually  through  a  hole  at 
the  top  of  the  head,  to  continue  its  existence,  as  a 
separate  and  conscious  individual,  elsewhere.  We 
know  for  certain  that  this  position,  the  refusal  to 
use  this  hypothesis,  was,  among  Indian  thinkers, 
peculiar  to  Buddhism. 

On  other  points  we  must  still  be  content  to  re- 
serve our  judgment.  The  Buddha,  for  instance, 
is  sometimes  said  to  have  abolished  caste.  But 
we  are  entirely  unwarranted  in  supposing  the 
system  we  now  call  the  caste  system  to  have  exist- 
ed in  its  present  form  when  Buddha  arose,  in  the 
sixth  century  before  Christ,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Ganges.  On  the  contrary,  the  key-stone  of  the  arch 
of  the  peculiarly  Indian  caste  organization — the 
absolute  supremacy  of  the  Brahmins — had  not 
yet  been  put  in  position,  had  not,  in  fact,  been 
made  ready.  And  in  many  other  details  the 
caste  system  did  not  yet  exist.  It  was  only  in 
process  of  evolution.  In  face  of  these  conditions, 
the  Buddha's  doctrine  was  necessarily  twofold. 
Within  his  own  order,  over  which  alone  he  had 
complete  control,  he  ignored  completely  and  ab- 

34 


BUDDHISM 

solutely  all  advantages  or  disadvantages  arising 
from  birth,  occupation,  or  social  status,  and  swept 
away  all  barriers  and  disabilities  arising  from  the 
arbitrary  rules  of  mere  ceremonial  or  social  im- 
purity. Now,  we  knowr  there  had  existed  orders 
before  Gotama  founded  his.  But  their  records 
are  at  present  available  only  in  so  fragmentary 
a  state  that  we  do  not  yet  know  whether  any  of 
them  had  taken  a  similar  step  before. 

On  the  other  hand,  outside  his  own  order,  the 
Buddha  adopted,  as  regards  what  we  now  fairly 
call  "questions  of  caste,"  the  only  course  then 
open  to  any  man  of  sense — that  is  to  say,  he  strove 
to  influence  public  opinion  (on  which  such  ob- 
servances depend)  bj^  a  constant  inculcation  of 
reasonable  views.  Thus,  in  the  Amagandha  Sut- 
ta  it  is  laid  down,  in  eloquent  words,  that  defile- 
ment does  not  come  from  eating  this  or  that,  pre- 
pared or  given  by  this  or  that  person,  but  from 
folty  in  deed  or  word  or  thought.  And  here  the 
very  document  itself,  in  giving  the  doctrine,  gives 
it  as  the  word  of  an  Awakened  One  (a  Buddha) 
of  old.  In  other  words,  the  Buddhist  records  put 
forward  this  view  as  having  been  enunciated 
long  before,  with  the  intended  implication  that  it 
was  common  ground  to  the  wise. 

This  is  only  one  example  out  of  many.  The 
Buddhist  doctrines  that  salvation  from  suffering, 
from  mere  quantitative  existence  indefinitely  pro- 
longed, depended  on  the  choice  of  a  right  ideal; 
that  goodness  was  a  function  of  intelligence;  that 

35 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  sacrifice  of  the  heart  was  better  than  a  sacrifice 
of  bullocks ;  that  the  ideal  of  man  was  to  be  sought, 
not  in  birth  or  wealth  or  rank,  but  in  wisdom  and 
goodness;  that  the  habitual  practice  of  the  rapt- 
ure of  deep  reverie  was  a  useful  means  of  ethical 
training,  of  acquiring  that  intellectual  insight 
on  which  self-culture  depends ;  a  great  part  of  the 
theory  of  the  origin  of  evil;  a  great  part  of  the 
theory  of  Karma;  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  the 
impermanency  of  all  phenomena;  the  spirit  of 
unquestioning  toleration  in  all  matters  of  religion 
and  speculation — all  these,  and  others  besides,  were 
pre-Buddhistic,  and  were  widety  held  when  Bud- 
dhism arose.  Even  the  doctrine  that  salvation 
can  be  obtained  in  this  life  was  pre-Buddhistic. 
The  Buddha  merely  added  that  it  could  only  be 
enjoyed  in  this  life,  that  there  was  no  salvation 
at  all  beyond  the  grave. 

There  was  no  organized  church  to  attack.  It 
was  taken  as  granted,  indeed,  that  the  knowledge 
of  the  magic,  the  mystery,  of  sacrifice  was  confined 
to  Brahmins,  but  the  majority  of  the  Brahmins, 
then  as  now,  followed  other  pursuits.  They  were 
land-owners,  officials,  even  traders.  Many  of  them 
openly  adopted,  more  of  them  were  in  favor  of,  the 
new  school.  And  the  new  school  itself  was  no  or- 
ganized body.  No  one,  unless  he  actually  became 
a  member  of  Gotama's  order,  as  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  Brahmins  actually  did,  had  to  make  any  break 
in  his  life,  had  to  lose  any  social  consideration,  by 
following,  in  whole  or  in  part,  the  party  of  reform. 

36 


B  U  D  D  H I  S  M 

The  economic  conditions  were  peculiarly  favor- 
able. And  there  was  present  a  factor  almost  in- 
dispensable to  any  new  movement  of  religious 
reform — the  existence  side  by  side  of  widely  dif- 
fering views  of  life.  Just  as  our  Reformation 
in  Europe  was  largely  due  to  the  influence  on 
Christian  minds  of  the  newly  discovered  pagan 
literature  of  Greece,  so  in  India,  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury before  Christ,  the  Aryans  were  in  contact 
with  views  of  life  fundamentally  different  from 
their  own.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  imagine  that 
the  invading  Aryans  found  only  savages  in  the 
land.  The  Dravidian  civilization  was  not  in- 
ferior to,  though  it  was,  no  doubt,  in  many  re- 
spects, different  from,  that  of  the  Aryans  them- 
selves. There  was  probably  never  a  time  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  either  before  or  since,  when 
so  large  a  proportion  of  all  classes  of  the  people 
over  so  extensive  a  country  were  possessed  by 
so  earnest  a  spirit  of  inquiry,  of  speculation,  of 
interest  in  religious  questions,  by  so  impartial 
and  deep  a  respect  for  all  who  posed  as  teachers 
of  the  truth.  And  there  is  no  doubt  about  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  new  converts,  though  it  was 
an  enthusiasm  of  a  peculiar  kind.  Almost  all 
were  filled  with  an  overpowering  reverence  and 
love  for  their  great  teacher.  Many  had  experi- 
enced, and  would  never  forget,  the  bliss,  the  rapt- 
ure of  the  moments  of  insight,  of  emancipation,  of 
elevation  when  they  realized,  in  their  systematic 
practice  of  the  reveries  of  Jhana,  the  itnperma- 

37 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

nence  of  all  phenomena.  The  related  episodes  reveal 
a  calm  confidence  arising  from  the  sense  of  self- 
mastery  won,  a  keen  intellectual  pleasure  in  what 
seemed  to  them  to  be  a  final  solution  of  the  deepest 
problems  of  life,  a  longing  sympathy  with  those 
blinded  by  folly  and  error.  And  the  last  of  these 
feelings  they  were  wont  to  cultivate  especially  by 
one  of  their  systematic  meditations. 

Such  are  some  of  the  considerations  that  help 
us  to  understand  the  original  spread  of  Buddhism. 
Those  who  have  found  it  difficult  to  reconcile  the 
undoubted  fact  of  that  spread  with  their  view  of 
Buddhism  as  the  apotheosis  of  annihilation,  mean- 
ing thereby  the  annihilation  of  the  soul,  are  wrong 
only  in  the  latter  half  of  their  contention.  As  is 
now  well  known,  Nirvana  does  not  mean  the  an- 
nihilation of  the  soul — the  Buddhists  did  not  ac- 
cept the  hypothesis  of  a  soul — but  the  dying  out, 
in  the  heart,  of  the  three  fell  fires  of  lust,  ill-will, 
and  delusion.  A  doctrine  of  salvation  to  be  gain- 
ed, and  gained  now,  by  self-mastery,  by  a  gradual 
inward  perfection,  may  have  been  very  different 
from  modern  Western  ideas,  but  was  quite  com- 
patible with  the  necessary  enthusiasm,  and  ap- 
pealed strongly  to  the  aspirations  of  the  day. 

What  we  know  is  that  the  success  of  the  new 
doctrine  was,  in  the  first  centuries,  sufficiently 
marked.  Its  extent  may  be  gauged  by  the  ac- 
count of  the  formal  sending  forth  of  missionaries 
at  the  close  of  Asoka's  Council,  held  at  Patna  in 
the  third  century  before  Christ.  They  were  sent 

38 


BUDDHISM 

to  Sind,  to  Afghanistan,  to  Kashmir,  to  Tibet  and 
Nepal,  to  the  coasts  of  Burma,  to  the  Dekkan, 
to  Ceylon.  In  other  words,  missionaries  were  no 
longer  needed  in  the  vast  extent  of  territory  from 
the  Indus  to  the  Gulf  of  Bengal,  from  the  Hima- 
layas to  the  Godavari  River.  And  in  the  follow- 
ing centuries  Buddhism  had  spread  west  to  the 
Oxus,  north  to  Mongolia,  east  to  China,  Korea,  and 
Japan,  and  south  to  Siam  and  to  Java  and  to  oth- 
er islands  of  the  far  Southeastern  Archipelago. 

Then  came  the  decline.  Outside  India,  no  fur- 
ther progress  was  made.  In  India  itself  the  force 
of  the  new  movement  gradually  fell  away,  until 
Buddhism,  like  Christianity,  became  almost  un- 
known, even  in  the  very  land  of  its  birth. 

What  were  the  reasons  for  this?  Chiefly,  no 
doubt,  of  two  kinds — internal  weakness  and  a 
notable  increase  in  the  power  of  opposing  con- 
ditions. The  very  event  which,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world,  seemed  to  be  the  most  striking  proof  of  the 
success  of  the  reforming  party,  the  conversion  and 
strenuous  support  of  Asoka,  the  most  powerful 
ruler  India  had  had — indeed,  the  first  real  over- 
lord over  practically  the  whole  of  India  proper — 
was  only  the  beginning  of  the  end.  The  adhesion 
of  large  numbers  of  only  nominal  converts  pro- 
duced weakness  rather  than  strength.  The  day 
of  compromise  had  come.  Every  relaxation  of 
the  old  thorough  -  going  position  was  heartily 
welcomed  and  widely  supported  by  converts  only 
half  converted.  The  margin  of  difference  between 

39 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  Buddhists  and  their  most  formidable  opponents 
faded  gradually,  almost  entirely,  away.  The  soul- 
theory,  step  by  step,  regained  the  upper  hand. 
Caste  distinctions  were,  little  by  little,  built  up  into 
a  completely  organized  system.  The  social  suprem- 
acy of  the  Brahmins  by  birth  became  accepted 
everywhere  as  an  incontrovertible  fact.  But  the 
flood  of  popular  superstition  which  overwhelmed 
the  Buddhist  movement  overwhelmed  also  the 
whole  pantheon  of  the  Vedic  gods.  Buddhism  and 
Brahminism  practically  gave  place  to  modern 
Hinduism. 

We  ought  not,  in  fact,  to  be  surprised  that  a  theory 
which  placed  the  ideal  in  self-conquest ;  regarded  final 
salvation  as  obtainable  in  this  world  only,  and  only 
by  self -culture;  a  view  of  life  that  ignored  the  "  soul," 
and  brought  the  very  gods  under  the  domain  of  law ; 
a  religion  which  aimed  its  keenest  shafts  against 
just  those  forms  of  belief  in  the  supernatural  that 
appeal  most  strongly  alike  to  the  hopes  and  the  fears 
of  the  people;  a  philosophy  based  on  experience, 
confining  itself  to  going  back,  step  by  step,  from 
effect  to  cause,  and  pouring  scorn  on  speculations 
as  to  the  ultimate  origin,  or  end  of  things — we  ought 
not  to  be  surprised  that  such  a  system  stumbled  and 
fell.  It  might  gain,  by  the  powerful  personality 
of  its  founders,  by  the  first  enthusiasm,  the  zeal  and 
the  intelligence  of  his  followers,  a  certain  measure 
of  temporary  success.  But  it  fought  against  too 
many  vested  interests  at  once,  it  raised  up  too  many 
enemies,  it  tried,  in  "pouring  new  wine  into  old 

40 


BUDDHISM 

bottles/'  to  retain  too  much  of  the  ancient  phrase- 
ology for  lasting  success.  It  was  before  its  time.  The 
end  was  inevitable.  And  the  end  was  brought  about, 
not  by  persecution,  but  by  the  gradual  weakening 
of  the  theory  itself,  the  gradual  creeping  back  under 
new  forms  and  new  names  of  the  more  popular  be- 
liefs. 

In  almost  the  words  the  present  writer  ventured 
to  use,  nearly  twenty  years  ago,  "  It  would  be,  per- 
haps, hard  to  find,  in  the  whole  history  of  the  world, 
a  greater  tragedy  than  that  typified  by  the  feast  of 
Juggernauth.  The  number  of  deaths  at  the  fes- 
tival has  doubtless  been  sometimes  exaggerated,  and 
I  am  quite  aware  that  reasons  can  be  given  for  the 
character  of  the  carvings  on  the  triumphal  car  of 
Vishnu.  But  it  is  acknowledged  that  the  temple 
at  Puri  had  once  been  Buddhist,  that  caste  is  ignored 
during  the  festival,  and  that  the  very  name  of  the 
idol  is  really  nothing  but  a  misunderstood  ancient 
epithet — the  Pali  word  '  Jagan-natha '  (Lord  of  the 
World) — of  the  great  thinker  and  reformer  of  India. 
We  know  that  deaths  did,  in  fact,  and  up  to  very  re- 
cent times,  take  place,  and  were  supposed  to  secure 
a  happy  entrance  of  the  'soul'  into  realms  of  de- 
light in  heaven.  When  wre  call  to  mind  how  the 
frenzied  multitudes,  drunk  with  the  luscious  poison 
of  delusions,  from  which  the  reformation  ihey  had  re- 
jected might  have  saved  them,  dragged  on  that  sacred 
car,  heavy  and  hideous  with  carvings  of  obscenity 
and  cruelty — dragged  it  on  in  the  very  name  of 
Jagan-natha,  the  forgotten  teacher  of  self-control,  of 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

enlightenment,  and  of  universal  love,  while  it  creaked 
and  crushed  over  the  bodies  of  miserable  suicides, 
the  victims  of  once-exploded  superstitions — it  will 
help  us  to  realize  how  heavy  is  the  hand  of  the  im- 
measurable past ;  how  much  more  powerful  than  the 
voice  of  the  prophets  is  the  influence  of  congenial  fan- 
cies and  of  inherited  beliefs." 

And  now?  Is  there  any  probability  of  the  re- 
vival of  Buddhism?  Has  it  force  enough,  has  it 
any  force  to  stand  up  against  the  altered  condi- 
tions of  the  world?  Beaten  back  by  the  fire  and 
sword  of  a  fierce  Mohammedanism  from  Khiva  and 
Bokhara,  from  Afghanistan  and  Baluchistan,  from 
Sind  and  from  the  Panjab,  will  it  regain  there  the 
lost  territory,  and  restore  the  beautiful  monuments 
so  ruthlessly  destroyed?  It  was  the  same  gentle 
hands  that  gave  the  coup  de  grdce  to  Buddhism  in 
the  valley  of  the  Ganges.  The  great  university  of 
Nalandci  still  existed,  as  the  chief  if  not  the  only 
centre  of  unsectarian  religious  life  in  India,  when 
the  Moslems  came. 

They  murdered  the  teachers  and  burned  the  books, 
and,  without  any  military  necessity  that  is  now 
perceptible,  destroyed  the  buildings.  Can  Buddhism 
recover  there  the  ground  it  had  previously  lost  by 
its  own  failings,  and  rebuild  the  great  university 
now  buried  in  heaps  of  ruin  and  covered  with  jungle? 
Can  it  recover  its  lost  influence  in  China  and  Japan, 
where  it  was  for  a  short  time  the  dominant  faith,  and 
is  now  despised,  again  through  its  own  weakness, 
by  the  official  and  ruling  classes  who  once  professed 


BUDDHISM 

it?  Is  there  any  probability  of  its  once  again  send- 
ing out  its  missionaries  into  distant  lands,  and  gain- 
ing over  new  regions  to  its  strong  gospel  of  self-vic- 
tory by  self-abnegation? 

The  answer,  so  far  as  it  can  be  given  at  all,  can 
only  be  given  in  the  light  of  the  history  of  the  past. 
In  so  far  as  it  shall  be  able  to  purify  itself  by  an  in- 
telligent approximation,  indeed,  by  a  practical  re- 
turn, to  the  teaching  of  the  master,  there  is  hope 
for  it.  Its  most  powerful  weapon,  now  as  then, 
must  always  be  the  Four  Truths,  the  Noble  Path  in 
which  they  culminate,  the  doctrine  of  Arahatship 
to  which  that  path  leads  up.  It  is  by  no  means  sure 
that  Buddhists  throughout  the  world  have  as  yet 
fully  and  consciously  reached  this  position.  But 
some  approach,  at  least,  to  it  is  being  brought  about 
by  two  causes  especially.  And  these  are  both  due, 
oddly  enough,  to  European  and  American  agency 
— they  are  the  influence  of  Christian  propagandists 
and  of  European  and  American  scholars. 

One  result  of  the  first  has  been,  and  especially  in 
those  countries  where  it  has  been  most  vigorously 
carried  on,  to  compel  the  Buddhists  to  examine  their 
grounds  of  belief,  and,  with  that  object,  to  study 
more  carefully  their  ancient  literature.  We  see, 
therefore,  throughout  the  Buddhist  world  an  en- 
thusiasm reawakening  for  education,  both  primary 
and  secondary,  to  be  conducted  on  their  own  lines. 
Books  in  manuscript,  on  the  time -honored  palm- 
leaves,  had  been  deemed  enough  when  their  position 
was  not  attacked.  Now  they  are  printing  and  cir- 

43 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

culating  their  books,  as  the  Christians  do;  they  are 
founding  schools  for  both  sexes;  they  are  establish- 
ing boards  of  education,  even  high  schools  and  col- 
leges; and  their  sacred  books,  no  longer  left  only 
in  the  hands  of  student  recluses,  are  printed  and 
circulated  at  large.  Fas  est  et  ab  hoste  doceri. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  labors  of  European  and 
American  scholars  are  making  accessible,  also  on 
this  side,  the  ancient  texts,  and  are  even  beginning 
to  translate  them  into  European  languages,  and  to 
analyze  and  summarize  their  contents.  Though 
the  Buddhists  do  not  in  the  least  agree  with  us, 
whose  aim  is  not  controversial  at  all,  but  only  his- 
torical, they  are  beginning  not  only  to  make  such 
use  as  suits  them  of  our  results,  but  to  imitate  our 
methods. 

It  may  be  desirable  to  specify,  with  regard  to  each 
country — for  Buddhism  is  still  an  influence  over 
widely  separated  portions  of  the  globe,  and  the 
present  position  is  different  in  each — how  far  such 
movements  have  gone.  In  Japan,  split  up  as  Bud- 
dhism is  into  many  sects,  of  which  Mr.  Fujish  Ma 
has  given  us  so  interesting  an  account,"  the  very 
difference  of  opinion  has  led  to  one  sect  vying  with 
the  other  in  propagandist  education.  Several  of 
them  have  even  sent  students  over  to  Europe  for 
the  express  purpose  of  learning  Pali  and  Sanscrit 
—  a  most  striking  phenomenon  of  the  time.  And 
one  or  two  of  these  students,  thus  trained  in  European 

*  Le  Bouddhisme  japonais  ;  doctrines  et  histoire  des  dome  grandes 
sectes  du  Bouddhisme  du  Japan.  Paris,  1889 

44 


knowledge,  notably  the  gentleman  already  referred 
to,  and  Mr.  Bun}Tu  Nanjio,  and,  last  (not  least),  Mr. 
Takakusu,  have,  by  their  published  works,  added 
not  only  to  native,  but  to  European  knowledge.  A 
very  excellently  conducted  periodical,  now  called 
The  Orient,  gives  also  able  expression,  in  English, 
to  the  general  Buddhist  view  of  things,  and  publishes 
English  versions  of  the  texts  held  in  most  repute. 
In  the  face  of  the  increased  importance  which  recent 
events  have  given  to  the  military  caste  in  Japan,  a 
caste  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  the  ancient 
paganism,  the  Shinto  faith  of  their  ancestors,  this 
activity  and  zeal  of  the  Buddhists  is  noteworth\T. 

In  China,  in  this  as  in  other  respects,  all  is  silent ; 
or,  if  there  be  any  movement,  we  know  nothing  of  it. 
Buddhism  there  has  always,  in  spite  of  a  few  in- 
tervals of  royal  favor,  had  a  hard  fight  against 
Confucianism;  and  it  lies  at  present,  mostly  from 
internal  causes,  under  a  cloud.  But  it  still  has  a 
large  following  among  the  masses,  and  even,  though 
they  often  prefer  to  conceal  the  fact,  among  the 
wealthier  classes;  and  any  revival  of  Chinese  nar 
tional  feeling  will  have  its  effect  also  on  the  Bud- 
dhist communities. 

In  Siam,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Buddhist  ad- 
vance has  the  able  and  efficient  support  of  the 
ruling  family.  In  emulation,  no  doubt,  and  in 
some  respects  in  imitation,  of  the  Pali  Text  Society, 
the  work  of  European  scholars,  the  Buddhist 
scholars  of  Siam — for  scholarship  has  never  died 
out  there — have  brought  out,  at  the  expense  and 

45 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

under  the  patronage  of  their  present  enlightened 
monarch,  and  under  the  superintendence  of  his 
brother,  the  distinguished  scholar  and  member  of 
the  Buddhist  Order,  Prince  Vajira-nana,  a  most  ad- 
mirable and  now  nearly  complete  edition  of  the 
whole  of  their  ancient  sacred  books,  and  are  be- 
ginning, under  the  same  auspices,  an  edition  of 
the  numerous  commentaries — all  in  Pali,  of  course, 
but  printed,  not  in  the  Pali,  but  in  the  ordinary 
Siamese,  characters. 

In  Ceylon,  the  Buddhists  —  not  without  help, 
be  it  noted,  from  American  sympathizers  —  have 
started  new  schools,  both  for  boys  and  girls.  They 
have  also  inaugurated  colleges  for  the  higher 
education  of  the  Buddhist  clergy.  And  more  than 
one  of  these  colleges,  notably  in  Colombo,  under 
the  able  superintendence  of  the  distinguished 
scholar  Sumangala  Maha  Nayaka,  who  is  an 
Honorary  Member  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society 
of  England,  have  produced  scholars  and  organizers 
who  are  fully  awake  to  all  the  necessities  of  the 
times.  There  is  a  paper  there,  too,  The  Buddhist, 
which  does  for  Ceylon  what  The  Orient  does  for 
Japan;  and  a  native  paper,  written  in  Singalese, 
the  Sava  Sanda  Rasa,  which  is  even  more  impor- 
tant, and  has  a  large  and  influential  circulation. 

In  India,  an  organization  has  been  set  on  foot 
in  Calcutta  for  the  propagation  of  Buddhist  opinion. 
This  owed  its  commencement  to  the  agency  of 
Ceylon  Buddhists,  and  is  at  present  very  ably 
presided  over  by  a  Ceylonese  well  known  in  Europe 

46 


BUDDHISM 

and  America,  Mr.  Dhannapala.  But  it  has  re- 
ceived the  adhesion  and  support  of  influential  na- 
tives of  India.  Some  of  them  contribute  arti- 
cles to  its  journal,  the  Journal  of  the  Maha  Bodhi 
Society,  and  others  have  gone  to  Ceylon  to  study 
Buddhism  there.  A  principal  object  of  the  as- 
sociation, to  obtain  possession  of  the  ancient  Maha 
Bodhi  temple,  erected  on  the  site  of  the  spot  where 
the  Buddha  obtained  Nirvana,  has  not  at  present 
been  successful.  But  the  organization  is  full  of 
life  and  aspiration,  and  it  seems  by  no  means  im- 
probable that  it  will  succeed  in  spreading  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  once  more  in  India  the  faith  of  the 
greatest  teacher  and  thinker  that  India  has  yet 
produced. 

In  Burma  Buddhism  is  at  present  quieter.  Per- 
haps it  is  that  the  Buddhists  there  feel  less  than 
elsewhere  the  pressure  of  opposing  forces.  As 
Air.  Fielding  has  shown  in  that  enchanting  vol- 
ume, The  Soul  of  a  People,  Buddhism  is  in  Bur- 
ma a  power,  and  a  power  on  the  whole  for  good, 
influencing  the  lives  of  the  people  from  the  cradle 
to  the  grave.  And  though  quiet,  it  is  not  quiescent. 
The  press  issues  an  increasing  number  of  Bud- 
dhist texts,  old  and  new.  And  though  the  Bud- 
dhist peasantr\T  have  not  yet,  from  financial  causes, 
succeeded  in  publishing  the  whole  of  the  authori- 
tative texts  of  their  religion,  the  texts  they  do  pub- 
lish have  a  wide  circulation  and  are  held  in  high 
honor  by  the  people. 

There  is  yet  another  point  which  it  would  be 
47 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

blindness  to  omit  in  any  estimate  of  the  position 
of  Buddhism  as  a  living  force — it  is  not  at  all  im- 
probable that  it  may  turn  out,  eventually,  to  be  the 
most  important  point  of  all — the  quiet  but  irresist- 
ible way  in  which  Buddhism  is  making  its  in- 
fluence felt,  quite  apart  from  any  religious  prop- 
aganda, in  the  thought  of  the  West.  What 
Schopenhauer  said  has  often  been  quoted,  but 
will  bear  quoting  again:  "If  I  am  to  take  the 
results  of  my  own  philosophy  as  the  standard  of 
truth,  I  should  be  obliged  to  concede  to  Buddhism 
the  pre-eminence  over  the  rest.  In  any  case,  it  must 
be  a  satisfaction  to  me  to  find  my  teaching  in  such 
agreement  with  a  religion  professed  by  the  ma- 
jority of  men."  This  would  be  neither  the  place 
nor  the  time  to  undertake  any  discussion  of  this 
utterance.  It  is  enough  to  point  out  that  Scho- 
penhauer is,  in  all  probability,  the  most  influential 
philosopher  among  those  now  followed  in  Ger- 
many; and  that  the  influence  of  Germany,  at  all 
events  in  intellectual  matters,  is  at  present,  if  not 
indeed  in  the  ascendant,  at  least  exceedingly  power- 
ful. It  is  not  probable  that  any  considerable 
number  of  people,  either  in  Europe  or  America, 
will  ever  range  themselves  openly  on  the  side  of 
Buddhism  as  a  profession  of  faith.  But  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  there  are  certain  points  in  the  Bud- 
dhist view  of  life  that  are  likely  to  influence,  and  to 
influence  widely,  with  increasing  intensity,  the 
views  of  life,  of  philosophy,  of  ethics,  as  held  now 
in  the  West.  And  not  only  the  view  of  life,  the 

48 


BUDDHISM 

method  also,  the  system  of  self-training  in  ethi- 
cal culture,  has  certain  points  which  the  practical 
Western  mind  is  not  likely,  when  it  comes  to  know 
it,  to  ignore.  The  present  results  have  been 
brought  about  by  the  knowledge  of  Buddhism  pro- 
fessed by  a  few  isolated  students.  It  is  only  when 
the  texts  have  been  properly  edited,  fully  translated, 
so  studied  and  summarized  that  they  have  been 
made  accessible  to  every  one  interested  in  questions 
of  philosophy  and  ethics,  that  the  full  power  of 
such  truth  as  there  is  in  the  Buddhist  theory  will 
be  felt. 

It  cannot  be  considered  as  at  all  improbable  that 
the  twentieth  century  will  see  a  movement  of  ideas 
not  unlike  in  importance  to  that  resulting  from 
the  discovery  of  Greek  thought  at  the  time  of  the 
Renaissance,  and  due,  like  it,  to  the  meeting  to- 
gether in  men's  minds  of  two  fundamentally  dif- 
ferent interpretations  of  the  deepest  problems  man 
has  to  face. 

T.  W.  RHYS  DAVIDS. 
D 


MOHAMMEDANISM    IN    THE 
NINETEENTH   CENTURY 


MOHAMMEDANISM   IN   THE 
NINETEENTH   CENTURY 


ON  the  day  of  intercession  for  missions  in  the 
year  1873  Professor  Max  Miiller  advanced  the  the- 
ory that  the  six  great  religions  of  the  world  are 
divisible  into  missionary  and  non  -  missionary  re- 
ligions. Under  the  first  head  he  places  Bud- 
dhism, Christianity,  and  Mohammedanism;  while 
Brahminism,  Zoroastrianism,  and  Judaism  belong 
to  the  latter  class.  He  adds  that  the  characteristic 
feature  of  missionary  religions  is  that  in  these 
"the  spreading  of  the  truth  and  the  conversion 
of  unbelievers  are  raised  to  the  rank  of  a  sacred 
duty  by  the  founder.  .  .  .  It  is  the  spirit  of 
truth  in  the  hearts  of  believers  which  cannot  rest 
unless  it  manifests  itself  in  thought,  word,  and 
deed,  which  is  not  satisfied  till  it  has  carried  its 
message  to  every  human  soul,  till  what  it  believes 
to  be  the  truth  is  accepted  as  the  truth  by  all  mem- 
bers of  the  human  family." 

It  is  from  the  zeal  for  propagation  in  a  religion 
that  we  are  able  to  judge  of  its  vitality.  If,  for 
example,  we  wish  to  gain  a  clear  idea  of  the  vitality 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  Christianity,  we  must  not  direct  our  attention 
towards  the  intellectual  centres  of  Christian  coun- 
tries, where  materialism  and  hypercriticism  often 
obscure  the  image  of  eternal  religion,  where  indif- 
ference and  skepticism  seem  to  threaten  the  very 
existence  of  the  faith,  but  we  must  look  at  the 
missionary  work,  in  which,  with  youthful  enthusi- 
asm and  sacred  zeal,  not  the  least  valuable  elements 
of  the  nations  are  active  in  the  propagation  of  the 
faith,  often  at  the  sacrifice  of  their  own  lives. 

The  same  is  true  also  of  Mohammedanism,  in 
connection  with  which  a  striking  activity  in  the 
spreading  of  its  teaching  is  displayed.  This  fact 
is  not  sufficiently  recognized,  and  it  may,  there- 
fore, be  of  general  interest  to  give  some  information 
as  to  the  present  condition  of  Mohammedanism, 
the  number  of  its  adherents,  and  the  manner  of  its 
propagation.  From  the  facts  and  figures  adduced 
below  we  shall  be  enabled,  at  the  same  time,  to 
form  an  opinion  as  to  whether  Pan-Islamism  con- 
stitutes a  danger  to  Oriental  civilization,  as  is 
asserted  by  some  authorities  on  Eastern  matters. 
Furthermore,  the  approaching  close  of  the  century 
presents  a  fitting  occasion  for  a  retrospective  glance 
at  the  religious  and  intellectual  movements  of  the 
past  hundred  years.  In  the  nineteenth  century, 
especially,  technical  knowledge  has  made  vast 
progress,  and  the  ever-increasing  energies  at  work 
in  the  life  of  civilized  races  naturally  sought  before 
long  to  bring  other  spheres  under  their  influence. 
It  was  in  the  nineteenth  century  that  modern  civil- 

54 


MOHAMMEDANISM 

ization  first  came  actually  face  to  face  with  Moham- 
medanism, which  forms,  as  it  were,  a  barrier  be- 
tween Western  culture  and  non-civilized  peoples. 
Step  by  step,  the  influences  of  the  West  encroach 
upon  the  borders  of  the  Mohammedan  world,  not, 
of  course,  without  producing  certain  reactions.  So 
it  is  that,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  after  a  long 
interval,  Mohammedanism  again  manifests  ex- 
pansive activity,  and  in  a  manner,  indeed,  which 
evokes  our  admiration. 

I  will  begin  by  giving,  by  means  of  figures,  an 
idea  of  the  present  condition  of  Mohammedanism 
in  the  different  continents,  compared  with  its  pro- 
portions about  one  hundred  37ears  ago.* 

The  status  of  Islam  in  America  may  be  dis- 
missed very  briefly.  On  the  whole  continent  of 
North  and  South  America  there  live  only  about 
49,500  Mohammedans,  there  being  20,500  in  North 
and  Central  America,  inclusive  of  the  West  Indies; 
the  other  29,000  are  in  South  America,  where  the 
British  colony  of  Guiana  alone  contains  21,000  Mo- 
hammedans. These  are  exclusively  workmen,  the 
coolies  imported  from  India  and  China.  There  is 
here  as  little  question  of  the  progress  of  Moham- 
medanism as  of  its  retrogression;  conversions  to 

*  For  the  years  1890-1897  especially  good  and  critically  sound 
materials  are  afforded  by  the  excellent  work  of  Dr.  Jansen,  The 
Propagation  of  Mohammedanism  (Die  Verbreitung  des  Islams), 
1 297.  But  it  is,  of  course,  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  obtain 
reliable  figures  for  earlier  periods.  Here  their  want  must  be  sup- 
plied by  a  survey  of  the  spread  of  Mohammedanism  from  a  geo- 
graphical point  of  view,  as,  for  example,  in  the  case  of  Africa. 

55 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

Islamism  do  not  take  place  at  all,  as  the  coolies 
live  apart,  and  scarcely  come  into  contact  with 
Americans.  They,  moreover,  generally  return 
home  when  they  have  effected  an  improvement  in 
their  material  position,  and  are  replaced  by  other 
immigrants,  who  form  hopes  of  large  earnings 
in  the  foreign  land.  That  the  majority  of  these 
Mohammedans  live  in  British  Guiana  is  natural- 
ly accounted  for  by  the  relative  facilities  for  the 
transport  of  coolies  thither  from  British  India. 

Mohammedanism  has  as  yet  penetrated  very 
little  into  Australia,  although  the  insular  con- 
nection of  that  continent  with  the  Malaj7  Archi- 
pelago, where  Mohammedans  predominate,  will 
doubtless  soon  produce  a  more  active  propaganda 
of  Mohammedanism  there.  We  have  to  record 
in  Australia,  inclusive  of  Oceania,  about  19,500 
adherents  of  Islam,  who  chiefly  consist,  as  in 
America,  of  Indian  and  Chinese  merchants  and 
coolies. 

In  the  Middle  Ages,  Mohammedanism,  as  is  well 
known,  had  overrun  a  large  portion  of  southern 
Europe  —  Spain,  Sicity,  southern  Italy,  and  the 
whole  Balkan  peninsula,  speaking  in  the  widest 
sense  of  the  term;  at  the  beginning  of  modern 
times,  it  was  geographically  confined  to  that  pen- 
insula, exclusive  of  the  Tartar  tribes  inhabiting 
Russia,  in  number  rather  more  than  six  millions, 
who  remained  behind  after  the  great  Mongolian 
invasions.  At  the  present  day  the  Balkan  pen- 
insula contains  about  15,700,000  inhabitants,  of 

56 


MOHAMMEDANISM 

whom  3,350,000  are  Mohammedans,  most  of  them 
living  in  Turkish  territory. 

But  in  Turkej^  itself  a  constant  retrogression  of 
Mohammedanism  is  to  be  observed.  Here  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Prophet  encounters  Christianity,  and 
frequently  succumbs,  since  the  latter  is  usually 
accompanied  by  the  superiority  of  Western  culture. 
That  this  was  not  always  the  case  is  shown  by  the 
very  interesting  history  of  Mohammedan  propa- 
ganda among  the  Christians  of  the  Balkan  pen- 
insula, in  Albania,  Servia,  and  Bosnia,  where, 
especially  in  the  seventeenth  century,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  negligence  and  apathy  of  the  Chris- 
tian clergy,  Mohammedanism  made  surprising 
progress.  Information  on  this  matter  may  be 
found  in  the  capital  work  by  T.  W.  Arnold,  The 
Preaching  of  Islam. 

The  Society  of  English  Mohammedans,  founded 
in  Liverpool  by  Mr.  Quilliam,  a  description  of 
which  is  given  by  John  J.  Pool  (Studies  in  Mo- 
hammedanism), has  attained  the  large  number 
of  two  hundred  members  in  the  fifteen  years  of  its 
existence.  This  absolutely  isolated  phenomenon 
cannot  be  seriously  counted  among  the  successes 
of  Mohammedanism. 

On  the  other  hand,  great  progress  has  been 
made  by  Mohammedanism  in  this  century  in  Asia 
and  Africa,  its  ancient  homes;  less  through  the 
power  of  the  sword  than  by  means  of  untiring 
missionary  work.  It  is  a  fact  that,  especially  in 
Africa,  this  kind  of  peaceful  progress  is  more  often 

57 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  result  of  a  "  jihad/'  or  religious  war;  but,  in 
spite  of  this,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  real 
instrument  of  Mohammedan  propaganda  is  no 
longer  the  sword,  as  in  the  first  centuries  of  Islam- 
ism,  but  the  teaching  of  the  priests  who  succeed 
the  soldiers,  and  who  impart  the  faith  to  the  masses 
of  the  people. 

Almost  the  whole  of  the  modern  progressive  move- 
ment of  Mohammedanism  in  this  century  may  be 
traced,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  a  puritanical  sect, 
the  so-called  Wahhabis,  whose  founder,  Abd-al- 
Wahhab,  appeared  in  the  first  half  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  in  the  province  of  Nejd,  in  the  in- 
terior of  Arabia,  as  the  reformer  of  a  then  very 
corrupt  Mohammedanism.  Before  long  he  and  his 
successors  had  such  a  powerful  following  among 
the  nomad  tribes  of  Arabia  that  in  the  year  1803 
they  even  gained  possession  of  the  two  sacred 
cities,  Mecca  and  Medina,  and  only  about  ten 
years  ago  was  the  Turkish  government  able  to 
put  an  end  to  their  political  power.  Like  the  Ref- 
ormation of  Luther  in  Germany,  this  movement 
was  originally  directed  only  against  the  abuse  of 
the  veneration  of  saints,  against  religious  super- 
stition and  increasing  luxury  in  worship,  and 
therefore  it  aimed  merely  at  a  spiritual  revival; 
it  has,  however,  particularly  since  the  destruction 
of  its  political  importance,  assisted  a  great  deal 
in  the  exterior  propagation  of  Mohammedanism. 
As  little  now  could  be  effected  by  means  of  the 
sword  for  the  renewal  of  the  faith,  so  much  the 

58 


MOHAMMEDANISM 

more  fervently  did  its  adherents  labor  as  religious 
teachers  within  the  sacred  mosque  itself. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca, 
obligatory  on  all  believers  in  the  Koran,  a  certain 
Saiyid  Ahmad,  formerly  a  freebooter  and  bandit 
in  India,  became  acquainted  with  the  teaching 
of  the  Wahhabis;  and,  on  his  return  home  to 
India  about  1820,  with  true  Mohammedan  fanati- 
cism, he  made  it  his  life-work  to  spread  the  new 
doctrine — that  is  to  say,  pure  Islamism. 

In  the  year  1826  he  preached  a  jihad  against 
the  Sikhs.  In  spite  of  great  successes  at  first 
over  the  Sikhs  and  the  Afghans,  who  also  opposed 
him,  he  was  finally  defeated  and  put  to  death. 
The  continuous  progress  of  Mohammedanism  in 
Hindostan  is  chiefly  to  be  ascribed  to  his  follow- 
ers, who  for  a  long  time  made  the  Indian  city  of 
Patna  their  headquarters.  By  careful  calculations, 
based  on  the  absolutely  reliable  publications  of 
the  Indian  government  on  the  Census  of  India,  the 
following  increase  in  Mohammedanism  is  to  be 
recorded  in  different  parts  of  the  empire,  in  the 
period  1881-91 :  In  the  Madras  Presidency,  an  in- 
crease from  1,933,571  to  2,250,386  persons;  in  the 
Bombay  Presidency,  an  advance  of  nearly  fourteen 
per  cent,  of  the  population;  in  Assam,  an  increase 
of  nearly  thirteen  per  cent. ;  in  the  Punjab,  of  ten 
per  cent. ;  in  Bengal  and  the  Northwest  Provinces, 
of  from  seven  to  eight  per  cent.  The  whole  of 
British  India,  inclusive  of  the  tributary  states,  con- 
tained, in  the  3Tear  1881,  250,150,050  inhabitants, 

59 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  whom  49,952,704  were  Mohammedans;  and  in 
the  37ear  1891,  280,062,080  inhabitants,  of  whom 
57,061,796  were  Mohammedans. 

The  striking  increase  among  the  Mohammedans 
beyond  the  natural  growth  of  population  represents, 
according  to  Dr.  Jansen's  calculations,  0.406  per 
cent,  for  this  period  of  ten  years.  From  this  it 
may  further  be  calculated  (as  has  been  done  by 
C.  Y.  O'Donnell,  one  of  the  English  census  of- 
ficials) that,  in  about  five  hundred  years,  the  whole 
of  India  will  be  an  entirely  Mohammedan  country. 
This  tremendous  progress,  in  which,  besides  the 
above-mentioned  Wahhabis,  some  other  sects  take 
an  active  part,  notably  the  Faraizis  ("followers 
of  the  divine  precepts"),  closely  resembling  the 
Wahhabis  from  a  dogmatic  point  of  view,  is  en- 
tirely the  work  of  a  peaceful  proselytization.  How 
much  may  be  accomplished  by  these  means  is 
also  shown  by  three  million  conversions  to  Moham- 
medanism, mentioned  by  the  French  writer  De 
Lanessan  for  a  period  of  ten  years  (about  1870-80). 

It  is  eas3T  to  explain  the  fact  that  India,  the  land 
of  strict  caste,  should  be  a  fruitful  soil  for  the  in- 
tensely democratic  religion  of  Islam.  The  most 
numerous  are  naturally  the  conversions  of  people 
of  the  lower  castes.  On  this  subject  let  us  con- 
sult one  of  the  best  judges  of  the  religious  con- 
dition of  India,  T.  W.  Arnold,  who  says : 

"  The  insults  and  contempts  heaped  upon  the  lower  castes 
of  Hindus  by  their  co-religionists,  and  the  impassable  ob- 
stacles placed  in  the  way  of  any  member  of  these  castes  desir- 

60 


MOHAMMEDANISM 

ing  to  better  his  condition,  show  up  in  striking  contrast  the 
benefits  of  a  religious  system  which  has  no  outcasts,  and 
gives  free  scope  for  the  indulgence  of  any  ambition.  .  .  . 
The  tyranny  of  caste  tolerance  is  very  oppressive.  To  give 
but  one  instance.  In  Travancore  (west  coast  of  India), 
certain  of  the  lower  castes  may  not  come  nearer  than  seventy- 
four  paces  to  a  Brahmin,  and  have  to  make  a  grunting  noise 
as  they  pass  along  the  road,  in  order  to  give  warning  of  their 
approach." 

We  shall  speak  of  these  points  again  in  another 
connection. 

Proportionately  great  has  been  the  increase  of 
Mohammedanism  in  Burma,  where,  from  1881  to 
1891,  the  number  of  Mohammedans  increased  from 
168,881  to  210,049,  representing  nearly  twenty-five 
per  cent,  of  the  population. 

In  the  Malay  Archipelago,  also,  the  movement 
started  by  the  Wahhabis  in  this  century  produced 
both  an  inward  revival  and  an  outward  increase 
of  Mohammedanism.  The  progress  of  the  faith 
is  there  all  the  greater  because  the  natives  regard 
it  as  an  opposition  to  the  encroaching  Occiden- 
tal influences.  The  number  of  Mohammedans  in 
the  entire  Malay  Archipelago  is  reckoned  at 
31,042,000  out  of  44,627,000  inhabitants.  In  the 
Chinese  Empire,  again,  Islamism  has  made  steady 
progress  in  this  century.  The  number  of  resident 
Mohammedans  (according  to  the  estimate  given 
in  The  Statesman's  Year -Book)  was  computed 
at  30,000,000  in  1882,  while  in  1897  the  figures  are 

*  Arnold,  The  Preaching  of  Islam,  p.  220. 

61 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

put  at  32,000,000,  which  is  considerably  more 
than  the  proportional  increase.  One  of  the  best 
judges  of  China,  M.  Vassilief,  depicts  the  con- 
stant progress  of  Mohammedanism  in  the  year 
1866  in  the  following  words :  "  Having  entered 
the  Celestial  Empire  by  the  same  paths  as  Bud- 
dhism, Islamism  will  gradually  succeed,  as  is 
not  doubted  by  Chinese  Mussulmans,  in  taking 
the  place  of  the  doctrine  of  Sakya-Muni." 

In  other  Mohammedan  parts  of  Asia,  such  as 
Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Persia,  etc.,  no  progress  of 
Mohammedanism  is  to  be  observed  other  than 
the  natural  increase  in  population,  and  this  is 
quite  natural  in  a  country,  like  Persia  for  exam- 
ple, in  which  there  are  only  a  very  small  num- 
ber of  non- Mohammedans.  In  Russian  Turkestan 
alone  a  slight  decrease  of  Mohammedanism  is  to 
be  noticed,  which  may  chiefly  be  ascribed  to  the 
systematic  Russification  of  those  districts. 

Mohammedanism  is,  however,  making  a  trium- 
phal progress  at  the  present  day  through  the 
"Dark  Continent."  It  will  be  interesting  to  note 
some  of  the  chief  movements  of  Islamism,  espe- 
cialty  in  west  Africa.  Almost  all  these  move- 
ments may  be  traced  to  Wahhabite  influence, 
whether  it  be  that  their  moving  spirit  has  come 
into  contact  with  the  teaching  of  these  Puritans, 
or  that  newly  founded  orders  have  embraced 
Wahhabite  doctrines  in  a  new  form,  and  preach 
these  fanatically  to  the  heathen. 

In  the  first  half  of  our  century  was  founded  the 
62 


MOHAMMEDANISM 

Mohammedan  Fulah  kingdom,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  Gambia  River,  by  Danfodio,  which 
led  to  a  great  spread  of  Mohammedanism.  Dan- 
fodio, himself  a  Fulah  negro,  had  learned  the  Wah- 
habite  doctrines  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  and 
he  preached  the  "pure  faith"  in  his  native  land 
on  his  return.  He  succeeded,  by  means  of  his  per- 
sonal influence,  first  in  converting  the  scattered 
Fulah  tribes  to  his  teaching,  and  next  in  uniting 
them  in  a  powerful  kingdom  under  his  dominion. 
Above  all,  he  understood  how  to  rouse  the  religious 
zeal  of  his  subjects,  so  that  the  Fulahs  hence- 
forth belonged  to  the  most  active  among  the  Mo- 
hammedan missionaries.  So,  also,  the  founding  of 
the  city  of  Sokoto,  now  the  centre  of  a  flourishing 
Mohammedan  kingdom,  in  a  district  still  almost 
entirely  heathen  at  the  beginning  of  the  century, 
was  the  work  of  Danfodio.  So,  again,  in  1837, 
Adamana  was  founded  by  the  Fulahs  on  the  ruins 
of  several  heathen  kingdoms.  The  Fulahs  bore 
the  victorious  banner  of  Islam  westward  as  far  as 
the  ocean;  and,  at  the  present  day,  four  powerful 
Mohammedan  kingdoms  in  Senegambia  and  the 
Soudan  still  bear  witness  to  the  missionary  zeal  of 
Danfodio.  What  the  warlike  Danfodio  had  out- 
wardly subjugated  was  inwardly  established  by 
the  priests,  merchants,  and  teachers;  they  taught 
the  newly  won  heathen  to  love  and  reverence  the 
Mohammedan  faith  as  a  higher  state  of  well-being. 
Even  in  districts  where  Christian  missions  seem 
to  have  gained  a  firm  footing,  Mohammedanism 

63 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

obtains  an  increasing  number  of  followers.  Thus, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1870,  Islamism  was 
entirely  unknown  in  Sierra  Leone  and  Lagos,  the 
two  chief  English  settlements,  while  now  about  a 
third  of  the  entire  population  profess  the  religion 
of  Mohammedanism. 

The  chief  share  in  these  almost  unexampled 
missionary  successes  is  due  to  individual  religious 
associations,  or  brotherhoods,  which  aim  in  their 
rules  at  the  propagation  of  Mohammedanism  as 
well  as  at  the  inward  purification  of  the  relig- 
ious life  of  the  faithful.  In  the  western  part  of 
north  Africa,  especial  activity  is  shown  by  the 
Kadri3^ah,  who  had  established  themselves  as 
early  as  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century 
in  Timbuctoo,  but  who  were  first  stirred  to  the 
zealous  propagation  of  Mohammedanism  by  the 
movement  which  originated  with  the  Wahhabis  and 
was  supported  by  Danfodio.  Their  missionary 
work  bears  an  entirely  peaceful  character;  it  is 
founded  merely  upon  personal  example  and  good 
teaching,  upon  the  natural  influence  of  the  teacher 
over  the  pupil,  and  upon  the  spreading  of  higher 
civilization. 

Another  religious  order,  the  Tijaniyah,  which 
also,  on  the  whole,  shows  Wahhabite  tendencies, 
engaged  in  the  spreading  of  Mohammedanism 
with  the  sword  in  the  fifties,  under  the  leadership 
of  a  negro  named  Umaru'1-Haji,  particularly  in 
the  region  of  the  upper  Niger  and  Senegal.  But 
the  real  inward  conversion  only  took  place  when, 

64 


MOHAMMEDANISM 

laying  aside  their  swords,  the  victors  began  to  be 
teachers  of  the  subjugated  heathen  in  the  truest 
sense  of  the  word;  and,  according  to  travellers' 
reports,  this  peaceful  wTork  is  being  carried  on 
without  interruption  at  the  present  day. 

About  the  middle  of  this  century  a  still  later 
order,  the  Senussis,  of  Algerian  origin,  penetrated 
into  northern  Africa,  and,  notwithstanding  their 
short  existence,  can  boast  of  remarkable  success. 
For  example,  the  whole  tribe  of  the  Baele,  settled 
on  the  east  of  Borku,  have  been  won  to  the  faith  of 
Islam  through  the  labors  of  the  Senussis,  while 
members  of  this  brotherhood  may  be  met  with 
throughout  Africa,  and  even  far  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  continent. 

In  order  to  give  some  idea  of  the  immense  spread 
of  Mohammedanism  in  these  regions,  it  suffices 
to  mention  that,  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  with  the  exception  of  Timbuctoo,  there 
was  scarcely  a  Mohammedan  settlement  in  the 
region  of  the  Niger,  wrhile  in  the  year  1897  from 
forty  to  nft\T  per  cent,  of  the  entire  population 
were  Mohammedans;  and  at  the  present  day  the 
Mohammedan  sphere  of  influence  reaches  as  far 
as  the  northern  frontier  of  the  French  Congo 
State. 

Approximately,  the  southern  limit  of  Mohamme- 
danism in  1800  may  be  taken  at  12°  N.,  while  this 
limit  has  now  advanced  to  about  8°  N.  As  regards 
space,  the  spread  of  Mohammedanism  in  the  course 
of  the  nineteenth  century  has  not  been  so  large  in 
E  65 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  interior  of  Africa  as  in  the  western  regions ;  but 
the  absolute  Mohammedanizing  of  the  kingdoms 
of  Kanem,  Bagirmi,  and  Wadai  is  principally  the 
work  of  this  century.  South  of  these  three  power- 
ful kingdoms  we  find  a  large  number  of  heathen 
negro  tribes  which  afford  the  potentates  of  Wa- 
dai and  Bagirmi  welcome  material  for  their  slave 
raids. 

In  the  eastern  Soudan,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  the  conversion  of  the  heathen 
to  Mohammedanism  had  made  but  little  progress, 
until,  in  the  year  1835,  a  certain  Muhammed 
Uthmanu'1-Amir  Ghani  entered  these  regions 
with  the  object  of  spreading  the  faith  of  Islam. 
He  had  come  from  Mecca,  and  after  crossing  the 
Red  Sea  had  arrived  at  Dongola.  From  this  point 
his  journey  was  simply  a  triumphal  progress. 
Everywhere  the  Nubians  flocked  to  him  as  fol- 
lowers, and  the  regal  pomp  of  his  appearance  made 
a  powerful  impression  on  the  people,  the  report  of 
his  miracles  also  procuring  him  crowds  of  ad- 
herents. In  Kordofan,  where  he  remained  for  a 
considerable  time,  his  missionary  work  among 
the  heathen  began.  Many  heathen  tribes  still 
inhabited  this  neighborhood  and  that  of  Sennaar, 
and  among  these  Muhammed  Uthman  gained 
great  successes  through  his  preaching.  It  was 
at  this  time  that  Muhammed  AH,  the  founder  of 
the  present  Egyptian  dynasty,  was  endeavoring 
to  gain  possession  of  the  eastern  Soudan,  and 
the  Egyptian  troops  supported  the  peaceable 

66 


MOHAMMEDANISM 

missionary  labors  of  the  active  brotherhoods  with 
all  the  more  energy,  because  by  their  means  they 
hoped  for  a  speedy  pacification  of  the  new  regions. 
But  the  religious  zeal  once  aroused  in  this  manner 
was  later  to  become  dangerous  to  Egyptian  rule. 
It  is  well  known  that,  after  a  persistent  agitation 
had  shown  itself  for  some  time  among  the  Mo- 
hammedan inhabitants  of  the  Egyptian  Soudan, 
suddenly,  in  the  year  1881,  a  hitherto  obscure  fakir, 
Muhammed  Ahmed,  who  had  been  leading  the 
life  of  an  ascetic  on  the  island  of  Aba  in  the  White 
Nile  (13°  30'  N.),  proclaimed  himself  as  the  ex- 
pected last  prophet,  the  Mahdi  ("  the  one  guided 
by  Allah"),  who  was  chosen  to  purify  Islamism 
from  corruptions  and  spread  its  dominion  over 
the  whole  world.  Muhammed  Ahmed  was  a 
Nubian  from  the  province  of  Dongola.  In  his 
youth  he  worked  at  the  trade  of  boat's  carpenter 
near  Sennaar.  But  he  soon  forsook  his  trade, 
attended  a  school  in  the  neighborhood  of  Khartoum, 
and,  after  being  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  the 
alphabet  and  the  knowledge  of  the  Koran,  he  es- 
tablished himself  as  an  ascetic  (fakir)  on  the  White 
Nile,  and  had  soon  earned  a  reputation  for  great 
sanctity.  It  would  take  too  long  to  give  a  detailed 
description  here  of  the  tremendous  successes  at- 
tained by  this  dauntless  man  with  unexampled 
rapidity.  Notwithstanding  all  the  exertions  of 
the  English  and  Egyptian  troops,  they  could  not 
succeed  in  checking  the  rising,  and  on  January 
26,  1885,  the  Mahdi's  predatory  troops  penetrated 

67 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

into  the  long-besieged  city  of  Khartoum,  where 
a  terrible  slaughter  began.  The  heroic  defender 
of  the  city,  Gordon  Pasha,  here  met  his  death. 
Only  in  the  year  1899  have  the  English  troops 
succeeded  in  defeating  the  Khalifa  Abdullah,  the 
successor  of  the  since  deceased  Mahdi,  at  the  battle 
of  Omdurman,  and  subsequently  the  news  reached 
Europe  from  the  Soudan  that  the  Khalifa's  army 
had  been  annihilated  in  another  battle,  and  that 
Abdullah  was  among  the  slain.  Thus  at  last  has 
the  death  of  the  universallj7  lamented  Gordon 
been  avenged,  and  the  Mahdist  movement  finally 
quelled,  as  is  hoped.  Mighty  as  were  the  political 
disorders  brought  about  by  the  rising  of  the  Mahdi 
in  the  eastern  Soudan,  the  progress  of  Moham- 
medanism here  has  been  but  small.  Mahdism 
has  scarcely  spread  southward  beyond  the  old 
limit  of  the  faith.  The  principal  reason  for  this 
will  probably  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  perpetual 
wars  of  the  Mahdi  and  his  followers  scarcely  allowed 
of  time  for  active  propaganda,  and  the  blood-thirsty 
character  of  the  whole  movement  was  not  qualified 
for  peaceful  progress.  It  is  true  that  we  possess 
no  unprejudiced  testimony  on  the  condition  of 
Mohammedanism  in  those  regions,  as  for  the  last 
twenty  years  the  Soudan  has  been  absolutely 
closed  to  all  Europeans. 

Still  farther  eastward,  on  the  coast  of  the  Ind- 
ian Ocean,  we  come  upon  old  Mohammedan 
territory  —  the  Galla,  Somalis,  Zanzibaris,  etc. 
In  striking  contrast  to  the  religious  fervor  dis- 

68 


MOHAMMEDANISM 

played  in  the  Mohammedanizing  of  west  Africa, 
here  there  is  scarcely  any  progress  to  be  noted. 
Only  among  the  inhabitants  of  Bondei  and  the 
Wadigo  in  German  east  Africa  is  an  advance 
in  Islamism  reported.  Notwithstanding,  in  the 
East  the  southern  limit  of  Mohammedanism  lies 
about  15°  S.  The  cause  of  the  want  of  progress 
of  the  Arabian  religion  may  probably  be  found 
in  the  greater  indolence  of  the  east  African  ne- 
gro tribes.  It  must  also  be  remembered  that 
this  is  the  region  in  which  the  Arabs  used  to 
make  their  slave  raids  by  preference,  a  circum- 
stance which,  as  was  seen  above,  has  probably 
hindered  the  advance  of  Mohammedanism  in  the 
negro  regions  south  of  Wadai. 

In  round  numbers,  at  the  present  day,  the  Dark 
Continent  contains  80,000,000  of  Mohammedans 
to  about  200,000,000  of  inhabitants.  "  It  is  hardly 
too  much  to  say  that  one-half  of  the  whole  of  Africa 
is  already  dominated  by  Islam,  while,  of  the  re- 
maining half,  one-quarter  is  leavened  and  another 
threatened  by  it." 

These  numbers  speak  for  themselves.  Moham- 
medanism is  on  the  way  to  a  total  conquest  of  the 
Dark  Continent.  What  a  tremendous  advance 
in  civilization  Mohammedanism  brings  to  the 
negro!  Let  us  hear  the  eloquent  description  of 
R.  Bosworth  Smith,  one  of  the  best  judges  of  the 
African  races :  * 

*  The  Nineteenth  Century,  p.  798  seq. 
69 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

"  The  worst  evils  which  prevailed  at  one  time  over  the 
whole  of  Africa,  and  which  are  still  to  be  found  in  many  parts 
of  it,  and  those,  too,  not  far  from  the  Gold  Coast  and  from 
the  English  settlements  —  cannibalism  and  human  sacri- 
fice, and  the  burial  of  living  infants — disappear  at  once  and 
forever.  Natives  who  have  hitherto  lived  in  a  state  of  naked- 
ness, or  nearly  so,  begin  to  dress,  and  that  neatly ;  natives 
who  have  never  washed  before  begin  to  wash,  and  that  fre- 
quently, for  ablutions  are  commanded  in  the  Sacred  Law, 
and  it  is  an  ordinance  which  does  not  involve  too  severe  a 
strain  on  their  natural  instincts.  The  tribal  organization 
tends  to  give  place  to  something  which  has  a  wider  basis. 
In  other  words,  tribes  coalesce  into  nations,  and,  with  the 
increase  of  energy  and  intelligence,  nations  into  empires. 
Many  such  instances  could  be  adduced  from  the  history  of 
the  Soudan  and  the  adjoining  countries  during  the  last 
hundred  years.  Elementary  schools,  like  those  described  by 
Mungo  Park  a  century  ago,  spring  up,  and  even  if  they  only 
teach  their  scholars  to  recite  the  Koran,  they  are  worth  some- 
thing in  themselves,  and  may  be  a  step  to  much  more.  The 
well-built  and  neatly  kept  mosque,  with  its  call  to  prayer 
repeated  five  times  a  day.  .  .  .  becomes  the  centre  of  the 
village,  instead  of  the  ghastly  fetish  or  Juju  house.  The 
worship  of  one  God,  omnipotent,  omnipresent,  omniscient, 
and  compassionate,  is  an  immeasurable  advance  upon  any- 
thing which  the  native  has  been  taught  to  worship  before. 
The  Arabic  language,  in  which  the  Mussulman  scriptures 
are  always  written,  is  a  language  of  extraordinary  copious- 
ness and  beauty;  once  learned,  it  becomes  a  lingua  franca 
to  the  tribes  of  half  the  continent.  .  .  .  Manufactures 
and  commerce  spring  up,  not  the  mute  trading  or  the  elemen- 
tary bartering  of  raw  products  which  we  know  from  Herod- 
otus to  have  existed  from  the  earliest  times  in  Africa,  nor 
the  cowrie  shells  or  gunpowder  or  tobacco  or  rum,  but 
manufactures  involving  considerable  skill  and  a  commerce 
which  is  elaborately  organized.  ...  As  regards  the 

70 


MOHAMMEDANISM 

individual,  it  is  admitted  on  all  hands  that  Islam  gives  to  its 
new  negro  converts  an  energy,  a  dignity,  a  self-reliance,  and 
a  self-respect  which  is  all  too  rarely  found  in  their  pagan  or 
their  Christian  fellow-countrymen." 

And,  if  we  inquire  the  manner  in  which  Mo- 
hammedanism attains  its  almost  unexampled 
successes,  we  are  amazed  at  the  simplicity  of  its 
methods.  The  propaganda  takes  place  without 
attracting  the  attention  of  the  world.  Islam  does 
not  send  forth  its  missionaries  into  heathen  lands, 
like  Christianity,  with  the  prescribed  task  of  in- 
ducing the  largest  number  possible  to  embrace 
their  own  faith.  The  emissaries  of  Mohamme- 
danism are  the  travellers,  the  merchants,  who,  while 
engaged  in  lucrative  commercial  transactions, 
implant  their  civilization  and  their  faith.  From  the 
first,  the  population  mistrusts  the  missionaries 
sent  ad  hoc  into  their  midst.  They  cannot  com- 
prehend the  object  of  the  coming  of  the  stranger; 
the  people  have  no  confidence  in  him,  and  therefore 
oppose  his  undertakings.  It  is  otherwise  with 
the  Mohammedan  merchant;  he  does  not  seek  to 
impose  his  religion  upon  the  people,  but  wisely 
waits  until  they  come  to  him  to  beg  for  enlighten- 
ment, for  it  is  with  nations  as  with  children — what 
is  given  them  they  despise,  while  they  eagerly 
desire  what  is  apparently  withheld  from  them. 

At  the  same  time,  the  sui-disant  Mohammedan 
missionaries  display  far  greater  tact  in  the  choice 
of  their  methods,  as  they  manage  to  vary  these 
according  to  the  peculiarities  of  the  nations  with 

71 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

whom  they  have  to  deal.  They  bring  civilization 
to  the  African  savages.  They  found  cities  and 
populate  them  with  Mohammedan  colonists,  whom 
they  transport  from  other  districts;  so,  for  in- 
stance, they  took  advantage  of  the  great  famine 
which  threatened  to  depopulate  the  land  of  the 
Wanyikas  on  the  Zanzibar  coast  to  display  Islam- 
ism  as  the  religion  of  love  and  beneficent  actions. 
They  also  occasionally  win  new  followers  to  their 
faith  by  liberating  them  from  the  bonds  of  slavery. 
Thus,  the  founder  of  the  Senussi  order  once  pur- 
chased a  whole  caravan  of  slaves,  chiefly  natives 
of  Wadai,  and  had  them  instructed  individually 
in  the  faith  of  Islam.  He  then  gave  them  their 
freedom  and  sent  them  back  to  their  own  country. 
These  converts  naturally  gained  crowds  of  new 
followers  to  the  faith. 

On  the  whole,  Mohammedanism  shows  a  mar- 
vellous adaptability.  Where  Mohammedans  find 
an  ancient  civilization,  as,  for  example,  in  China, 
they  avoid  either  wounding  or  provoking  those 
of  a  different  belief,  and  manage  to  adapt  religious 
ordinances  to  old  customs;  they  include  the  old 
feasts  in  their  calendar,  and  take  an  active  share 
in  all  the  doings  of  their  fellow-citizens  of  a  dif- 
ferent faith.  Their  tact  is  also  shown  by  small 
concessions  in  external  arrangements.  In  China, 
for  instance,  they  are  careful  not  to  build  their 
mosques  higher  than  the  other  temples,  and  there- 
fore the  mosques  are  not  adorned  with  minarets  in 
that  country.  By  the  power  of  their  eloquence 

72 


MOHAMMEDANISM 

their  preachers  have  brought  it  to  pass  that  in 
China,  even  in  government  circles,  Mohammedan- 
ism is  regarded  as  uniting  the  best  points  of  Con- 
fucianism and  Buddhism.  One  of  their  chief 
methods  of  propaganda  is  the  school,  as  has  been 
remarked  above.  Here  they  educate  future  genera- 
tions in  their  own  views. 

The  main  reason  for  the  great  successes  of  Mo- 
hammedanism, especially  among  the  uncivilized 
heathen  of  Africa,  consists  in  the  great  simplicity 
of  the  religion  in  question.  '  There  is  no  God  but 
God,"  and  "Mohammed  is  the  Prophet  of  God." 
The  convert  need  only  believe  these  two  sentences, 
and  he  is  at  once  a  Mussulman.  After  learning 
this  simple  confession  of  faith,  he  then  needs  only 
to  fulfil  the  following  five  practical  duties:  (i) 
Recital  of  the  creed;  (2)  Observance  of  the  five 
appointed  times  of  prayer;  (3)  Payment  of  the 
legal  alms;  (4)  Fasting  during  the  month  of 
Ramadhan;  and  (5)  The  pilgrimage  to  Mecca. 

And  every  convert  has  equal  rights  with  all 
other  members  of  the  great  community.  In  re- 
gard to  the  faith  there  are  no  distinctions;  for  did 
not  even  the  Nubian,  Muhammed  Ahmed,  rise  to 
be  the  Mahdi,  the  Messiah  of  the  Mohammedans? 

But  not  only  externally,  in  the  number  of  the 
faithful  and  in  the  magnitude  of  the  territory  under 
its  influence,  has  Mohammedanism  considerably 
increased,  but  it  has  undergone  a  kind  of  regenerat- 
ing process  in  its  inner  life,  at  least  in  certain  im- 
portant localities,  which  promise  to  supply  it  with 

73 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

new  strength  for  the  struggles  of  the  coming 
century. 

Mention  has  been  made  already  of  the  strong  in- 
fluence produced  by  the  reformatory  movement  of 
the  Wahhabis  upon  the  inner  life  of  Mohammedan- 
ism. Almost  innumerable  are  the  recently  found- 
ed brotherhoods  at  work  in  Mohammedan  territory 
in  the  Wahhabite  tradition,  either  by  the  power  of 
word,  example,  or  by  the  might  of  the  sword,  or 
even  by  the  union  of  both,  as  shown  by  the  example 
of  the  powerful  Danfodio.  And  when  anywhere, 
from  whatever  reasons,  an  insurrection  takes  place 
against  the  authority  of  the  state,  the  movement 
always  arises  from  ideas  of  reform,  generally  from 
a  puritanical  point  of  view.  If  the  leaders  of  these 
movements  have  no  such  motives,  and  should  they 
only  be  striving  for  personal  power,  they  still  cloak 
their  ambitious  ends  with  the  pretext  of  holy  zeal 
for  the  faith,  as  was  done  by  the  adventurer  Rabah, 
the  all-powerful  ruler  of  Wadai  from  1890  till  his 
death  in  1897.  The  reformer  who  preaches  against 
luxury  and  externality  of  belief  is  always  sure  of 
gaining  a  hold  on  the  masses.  But  that  these 
reformatory  ideas,  which  are  springing  up  on 
every  hand  on  Mohammedan  territory,  should 
really  produce  a  revival  of  the  religious  life,  is  shown 
again  by  the  increase  of  the  many  religious  orders, 
which  can  be  statistically  proved. 

Even  among  the  usually  skeptical  Persians  a 
movement  full  of  true  religious  enthusiasm,  the 
so-called  Babism,  has  gained  a  large  number  of 

74 


MOHAMMEDANISM 

devoted  followers.  The  tenets  of  Bab,  the  founder 
of  this  sect,  who  died  as  a  martyr  for  his  creed  in 
the  year  1850,  are  closely  akin  to  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity.  "  All  men  are  our  brothers,  therefore 
let  us  do  good  to  all,  as  the  sun  shines  upon  good 
and  evil  alike."  Only  such  an  intensifying  of 
the  Mohammedan  creed  could  have  the  effect  of 
raising  the  inwardly  degenerate  Persians  to  the 
rank  among  the  Mussulmans  which  is  due  to  their 
exceptional  mental  gifts. 

That  which  holy  enthusiasm  for  religion  is  striv- 
ing to  effect  from  within  is  being  brought  into  the 
life  of  Islamism  from  without.     It  was  mention- 
ed at  the  beginning  of  this  article  that  the  en- 
counter  between   Mohammedanism  and  Western 
civilization   could   not  fail    to   produce  an   effect 
upon  the  former.     But  the  powers  that  had  slum- 
bered in  Mohammedanism  for  so  many  years  did 
riot  come  to  life  merely  in  the  form  of  a  con- 
scious reaction  against  foreign  ideas.     The  many 
advantages  of  modern  culture,  the  technical  knowl- 
edge of  our  century,  were  too  apparent  to  be  denied 
by  the  more  reasonable   of  the   Mohammedans. 
They  began  to  realize  that,  if  they  desired  to  op- 
pose the  West,  it  could  only  be  done  with  the  help  of 
the   weapons   of   Western  civilization;   that   they 
must  learn  from  the  Frengis,  the  Europeans.     One 
of  the  most  enlightened  Mussulmans  of  our  cen- 
tury, Muhammed  Ali,  the  founder  of  modern  Egypt, 
deserves    to   be    especially   mentioned   here.     As 
Danfodio  and  the  Mahdi  strove  to  spread  the  holy 

75 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

faith  with  fire  and  sword,  so  Muhammed  Ali's 
reformatory  activity  in  Egypt  is  of  lasting  value 
to  the  further  development  of  enlightened  Moham- 
medanism. These  three  men  may  indeed  be  taken 
as  typical  specimens  of  the  different  forms  of  ac- 
tivity shown  by  Islamism  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. Muhammed  AH  came  to  Egypt  as  a  simple 
Turkish  captain,  and  by  means  of  his  remarkable 
gifts,  his  mental  superiority,  and  utterly  untiring 
energy,  often  indeed  united  with  barbarity,  he 
contrived  in  a  few  years  to  make  himself  master 
of  the  country,  and  finally  to  shake  off  the  in- 
tolerable yoke  of  Turkey.  He  had  learned  to  value 
the  advantages  of  Western  culture,  and  every- 
where, in  his  government,  in  the  organization  of 
the  army,  in  the  care  for  commerce,  in  sanitary 
provisions,  in  the  administration  of  justice,  we 
see  him  earnest  in  introducing  European  ideas. 
It  was  he  who,  rightly  appreciating  the  influence 
of  the  press  on  the  people,  started  an  Egyptian 
newspaper,  the  first  in  the  Mohammedan  Orient 
(1828).  The  recognition  of  the  utility  of  European 
civilization  has  slowly  but  surely  made  its  way, 
and  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  in  most  cases  the 
Mussulman  becomes  no  mere  outward  imitator 
of  the  Frengi,  but  manages  to  preserve  his  indi- 
viduality, even  while  he  takes  the  good  as  he 
finds  it. 

We  see  that  there  is  a  fermentation  going  on  in 
Islam  from  one  end  to  the  other.  Externally,  as 
well  as  internally,  Mohammedanism  has  made 

76 


MOHAMMEDANISM 

immense  progress  during  the  past  century;  we  see 
how,  perhaps  with  a  presentiment  of  a  conflict  near 
at  hand,  it  seeks  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
benefits  of  modern  culture;  we  see  how  in  Africa 
mighty  regions  become  tributary  to  it.  It  is  pos- 
sible that  if,  in  the  coming  century,  some  gifted 
man  succeeds  in  inspiring  these  tremendous  masses 
of  Mohammedans  with  one  aim,  we  shall  have  a 
hard  battle  to  fight.  Let  us  hope  that  Western 
civilization  and  European  politics  will  succeed  in 
leading  the  powers  active  in  Islam  into  peaceful 
paths,  and  fit  them  to  take  part  in  the  one  great 
aim  of  humanity — the  spread  of  true  civilization. 

OSKAR  MANN. 


BRAHMINISM 


BRAHMINISM 

IN  order  to  bring  out  clearly  the  point  of  view 
from  which  I  shall  approach  this  subject,  I  must 
begin  by  a  few  preliminarj^  observations.  We 
knowr  that  Christianity,  the  highest  and  purest 
faith  in  the  world,  has  always  been  essentially  a 
militant  and  missionary  religion,  pressing  on- 
ward unceasingly  to  extend  its  doctrines  and  to 
make  fresh  proselytes.  We  knowr,  also,  that  in  the 
seventh  century  of  our  era  another  faith  arose, 
even  more  intensely  militant,  more  fiercely  intent 
upon  propagation  than  Christianity — the  faith  of 
Mohammed  or  Islam.  By  this  rival  faith  Chris- 
tianity was  fiercely  attacked,  and  was  eventually 
driven  out  of  Asia  and  northern  Africa,  leaving 
only  a  few  obscure  sects,  like  the  Armenians  and 
Nestorians,  surviving  in  countries  which  had 
once  been  almost  wholly  Christian.  All  the 
western  region  of  Asia  was  easily  overrun  and 
converted  by  the  Mohammedans;  but  eastward  of 
Persia  the  spread  of  their  religion  ceased  to  coincide 
with  the  spread  of  their  dominion ;  they  could  con- 
quer India,  yet  they  could  only  convert  it  very 
partiall}'.  In  peace  and  war,  ihey  are  always 
F  81 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

proselytizing;  nevertheless,  Islam  makes  little  or 
no  material  progress  throughout  eastern  Asia.  A 
vast  majority  of  the  population  inhabiting  that 
side  of  the  continent  adhere  to  older  beliefs,  which 
differ  profoundly  from  the  creed  of  Islam. 

The  dividing  line,  the  religious  frontier  between 
east  and  west  Asia,  runs,  therefore,  through 
India ;  for  the  two  great  religions  of  the  East, 
Brahminism  and  Buddhism,  are  both  of  Indian 
origin ;  and  it  may  be  broadly  affirmed  that,  while 
all  the  dominant  religions  of  the  world  are  derived 
from  Asia,  the  whole  eastern  side  of  that  continent, 
including  Japan,  has  been  profoundly  and  per- 
manently affected  by  the  teaching  and  traditions 
of  an  Indian  ascetic,  Sakya  Muni,  the  Buddha. 
Yet,  although  Brahminism  has  exercised  a  vast 
influence  over  the  beliefs  and  worships  of  Asia 
during  many  centuries,  and  still  numbers,  at  the 
lowest  calculation,  more  than  two  hundred  million 
votaries,  it  is  not  a  faith  that  can  itself  be  traced 
back  to  an  epoch  or  a  founder;  nor  can  any  con- 
cise narrative  be  here  attempted  of  its  course,  its 
changes,  or  general  development.  The  utterances 
of  certain  semi-divine  sages,  the  philosophic  sys- 
tems of  some  great  thinkers  and  commentators, 
have  authoritatively  shaped  the  leading  concep- 
tions upon  which  the  religion  now  rests;  we  know, 
also,  that  different  ideas  and  rituals  have  been  domi- 
nant at  different  periods,  that  there  have  been 
degradations  and  revivals,  and  that  the  doctrines 
and  practices  of  north  India  have  varied,  and  still 

82 


BRAHMINISM 

vary,  from  those  of  the  south.  But  here  it  is  im- 
possible to  attempt  more  than  a  sketch  in  outline 
of  the  general  characteristics  of  Brahminism. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  neither  militant  nor  ag- 
gressively missionary;  it  does  not  openly  attempt 
to  make  proselytes,  in  the  sense  of  persuading  them 
or  compelling  them  to  come  in.  Secondly,  it  is 
not  historic;  it  has  sacred  books,  but  no  sacred 
history.  And,  thirdly,  it  has  never  been  defined 
by  formal  creeds,  nor  has  it  ever  accepted  a  single 
personal  deity.  The  general  character  of  Indian 
religion  is  that  it  is  unlimited  and  comprehensive, 
up  to  the  point  of  confusion;  it  is  a  boundless  sea 
of  divine  beliefs  and  practices;  it  encourages  the 
worship  of  innumerable  gods  by  an  infinite  variety 
of  rites ;  it  permits  every  doctrine  to  be  taught,  every 
kind  of  ntystery  to  be  imagined,  any  sort  of  theory 
to  be  held  as  to  the  inner  nature  and  visible  opera- 
tion of  the  divine  power. 

Now,  at  first  sight,  this  is  not  unlike  the  old 
polytheism  of  Greece,  Rome,  and  the  pre-Christian 
world  generally,  with  its  multitude  of  divinities 
and  multifarious  ceremonials.  There  are  pas- 
sages in  Augustine's  Civitas  Dei,  describing  the 
worship  of  the  unconverted  folk  among  whom  he 
lived,  the  deification  of  every  natural  object  and 
even  of  physical  functions,  that  might  have  been 
written  yesterday  by  a  Christian  bishop  in  India. 
But  then,  one  might  ask,  why  was  not  all  this 
paganism  swept  out  from  among  such  an  intel- 
lectual people  as  the  Indians,  as  it  was  out  of  the 

83 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

Western  countries,  by  some  superior  and  more 
highly  organized  faith?  Undoubtedly,  the  per- 
manent conditions  and  the  course  of  events  which 
contrive  to  stamp  a  particular  form  of  religion 
upon  any  great  people  are  complex  and  manifold; 
but  into  an  analysis  of  these  elements  I  cannot  go. 
It  is  sufficient  for  my  present  purpose  to  point  out 
that  the  two  sheet-anchors  of  Brahminism  are  the 
institution  of  caste  and  the  sacred  books,  both 
of  which  were  unknown  to  European  paganism. 
The  effect  of  caste  is  to  give  all  Hindu  society  a 
religious  basis;  and  the  sacred  books  provide 
Brahminism  with  a  theology — that  is,  with  a  sci- 
ence or  philosophy  of  religion.  I  believe  I  may 
say  that  the  old  polytheism  of  the  Roman  Empire 
had  neither  of  these  two  things.  According  to 
Greek  ideas,  the  business  of  framing  laws  for  all 
departments  of  human  life,  of  laying  down  rules 
of  conduct,  belonged  to  politics ;  while  the  philoso- 
phers of  Greece  and  Rome  were  rationalists  and 
teachers  of  morals,  they  seem  to  have  regarded 
the  popular  superstitions  with  good-natured  con- 
tempt. They  conformed  to  public  worship  that 
they  might  avoid  odium  and  accusations  of 
impiety,  but  they  gave  it  no  help  or  countenance ; 
and  in  philosophic  discussions  they  treated  the 
ordinary  polytheism  as  unworthy  the  notice  of 
serious  men.  They  never,  or  very  rarely,  gave 
an  inner  meaning  to  myths  and  fables,  or  read 
the  minds  of  the  people  through  their  fanciful 
beliefs. 

84 


BRAHMINISM 

But  the  Indian  philosophy  does  not  ignore  or  hold 
aloof  from  the  religion  of  the  masses;  it  underlies, 
supports,  and  interprets  their  polytheism.  This 
may  be  accounted  the  key-stone  of  the  fabric  of 
Brahminism,  which  accepts  and  even  encourages 
the  rudest  forms  of  idolatry,  explaining  every- 
thing by  giving  it  a  higher  meaning.  It  treats 
all  the  worships  as  outward,  visible  signs  of  some 
spiritual  truth,  and  is  ready  to  show  how  each 
particular  image  or  rite  is  the  symbol  of  some 
aspect  of  universal  divinity.  The  Hindus,  like 
the  pagans  of  antiquity,  adore  natural  objects  and 
forces — a  mountain,  a  river,  or  an  animal.  The 
Brahmin  holds  all  nature  to  be  the  vesture  or  cloak 
of  indwelling,  divine  energy,  which  inspires  every- 
thing that  produces  awe  or  passes  man's  under- 
standing. Again,  it  is  very  common  in  India,  as  it 
was  in  Greece  and  Rome,  to  deify  extraordinary 
men,  and  the  Brahmin  does  not  tell  his  disciples 
that  this  is  absurd;  he  agrees  that  such  persons 
must  have  been  special  embodiments  of  all-per- 
vading divine  power.  In  short,  he  accepts  every 
variety  of  cult  and  objective  worship  as  S3rm- 
bolical;  it  is  merely  the  expression  or  emblem, 
suited  to  the  common  intelligence,  of  mysterious 
truths  known  to  the  philosophic  theologian.  In 
this  manner,  the  gross  idolatry  of  the  people  is 
defended,  and  connected  with  the  loftier  ideas. 
It  is  maintained  that  God  is  a  pure  spirit,  but  to 
make  Him  wholly  impersonal  is  to  place  Him 
beyond  the  reach  of  ordinary  human  interest  and 

85 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

imagination;  so  it  is  well  for  the  less  advanced 
minds  to  be  encouraged  by  forms  and  signs  of  His 
presence.  All  worship,  it  is  said,  is  expressed 
through  the  senses  symbolically.  A  temple  or 
church  is  a  visible  mark  of  our  belief  that  the 
divinity  abides  among  us;  an  image  is  the  mys- 
tical token  of  the  indwelling  spirit;  while  prayer 
and  sacrifice  are  the  preparatory  training  towards 
more  intelligent  devotion.  What  we  can  conceive 
in  our  minds  we  may  well  picture  to  our  eyes ;  and, 
by  this  method,  the  innumerable  shapes  and  sacred 
places  of  Hindu  polytheism  are  consecrated  and 
adopted  into  the  higher  theology.  It  is  on  this 
principle  that  all  the  innumerable  signs  and  carved 
images  of  divinity  are  accounted  for  among  the 
upper  classes.  Each  form,  and  every  detail  of 
that  form,  they  say,  is  the  outer  clothing  of  some 
idea  or  impression;  pictures  and  sculpture  repre- 
sent some  mode  of  the  divine  presence:  although 
the  high  doctrine  is  that  knowledge,  not  worship 
or  ritual,  is  the  true  way  that  opens  the  door  to 
the  soul's  complete  emancipation. 

Above  and  beyond  the  miscellaneous  crowd  of 
things  and  persons,  living  or  inanimate,  unseen 
or  embodied,  that  are  worshipped  as  possessed  by 
divine  power,  we  have  the  great  deities  of  Brah- 
min ism,  from  whom  all  this  divine  power  proceeds, 
and  in  whom  the  principal  energies  and  the  fun- 
damental laws  of  nature  are  personified.  Brahma, 
Vishnu,  and  Siva  are  the  realistic  abstractions 
of  the  understanding  from  objects  of  sense.  They 

86 


BRAHMINISM 

denote  creation,  preservation,  and  destruction,  the 
constant  succession  of  birth  and  death  through- 
out all  existence,  the  process  of  destroying  to  pro- 
duce, and  of  producing  to  destroy.  Here  we  per- 
ceive that,  as  soon  as  we  pass  upward  through 
the  disorderly  mass  of  ordinary  paganism,  we 
come  upon  polytheism  backed  by  philosophy;  we 
may  scatter  the  irregular  levies,  and  are  confront- 
ed by  the  outworks  of  disciplined  theology.  The 
great  Brahminic  Trinity  are  adored  with  various 
rites  and  sacrifices;  they  have  innumerable  tem- 
ples, images,  and  personified  attributes.  Yet  to 
all  the  more  intellectual  worshippers,  Vishnu  and 
Siva  represent  the  course  and  constitution  of  nat- 
ure. And,  if  you  inquire  further  about  these 
things,  you  will  learn  that  all  phenomenal  exist- 
ence is  a  kind  of  illusion,  to  be  gradually  dissipated 
by  the  acquisition  of  knowledge;  for  the  reality 
becomes  intelligible  only  to  those  whose  souls  have 
been  strengthened  and  clarified  by  long  meditation, 
by  ascetic  exercises,  by  casting  out  all  worldly 
thoughts  and  desires.  To  the  eye  of  inner  illu- 
mination, those  who  know  God  only  by  delusive 
appearances  see  no  more  than  the  shadow  of 
divinity.  And,  conversely,  to  the  empirical  or  nat- 
uralistic mind  the  whole  religion  is  intelligible  as 
a  kind  of  reflection  or  mystical  transformation 
of  human  experience,  the  vast  shadow  of  the  earth 
projected  upon  the  sky. 

But  all  Hindus  worship  directly  the  high  gods 
of  Brahminism.     Brahma,  having  accomplished 

87 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

once  for  all  his  work  of  creation,  has  retired  into 
the  background  of  the  popular  pantheon;  he  has 
very  few  temples  or  images.  Vishnu  and  Siva 
divide  the  allegiance  of  devout  and  orthodox  people. 
It  is  impossible  here  to  give  the  diverse  names  or 
emblems  under  which  they  are  worshipped;  yet 
some  mention  must  be  made  of  the  Sakhtis — that 
is,  of  the  divine  forces  of  preservation  and  de- 
struction, especially  the  female  principle  of  produc- 
tiveness, as  personified  by  goddesses,  the  mates 
or  consorts  of  Vishnu  and  Siva.  The  worship  of 
women  plays  a  material  part  in  all  polytheistic 
systems;  and  the  grosser  forms  have  been  caught 
up  and  transmuted  into  loftier  conceptions  of  di- 
vine maternity.  In  Brahmanism,  the  lower  rites 
are  unclean  and  disreputable,  though  the}7  be- 
come purified  in  the  higher  regions  of  ideas; 
and  a  curious  likeness  may  be  observed  between 
the  consorts  of  the  great  Hindu  divinities  and 
the  emanations,  or  abstract  personalities,  of  the 
Gnostic  systems  that  prevailed  in  the  first  ages 
of  Christianity.  These  emanations  were  arranged 
in  pairs  of  male  and  female;  and,  indeed,  it  is 
obvious  that  human  speculation  can  only  attach 
form  or  function  to  divinity  by  drawing  upon 
terrestrial  analogies. 

Thus,  Vishnu  and  Siva,  with  their  consorts, 
are  the  pinnacles  of  the  visible  Brahminic  edifice; 
they  are  different  manifestations  of  the  Supreme 
Being;  they  represent  among  educated  men  sepa- 
rate systems  of  worship,  which,  again,  are  founded 

88 


BRAHMINISM 

on  separate  schools  or  opinions  regarding  the 
relations  between  God  and  man,  and  the  proper 
ways  and  means  of  attaining  to  spiritual  emanci- 
pation. For  the  whole  purpose  of  the  higher 
Brahminism  is  to  find  and  show  the  path  which 
leads  upward,  from  the  simple,  unvarnished  popu- 
lar superstitions  to  the  true  and  pure  knowledge 
of  the  Supreme  Being,  by  laying  out  a  connection 
between  the  upper  and  lower  aspects  of  religion. 
One  of  the  cardinal  points  upon  which  the  two 
systems  differ  is  in  regard  to  what  are  called  the 
Avatars — the  bodily  appearance  of  the  Deity  upon 
earth. 

Vishnu,  according  to  those  who  belong  to 
Vaishnava  tradition,  has  several  times  descended 
upon  earth,  and  has  appeared  in  various  forms. 
From  the  high  spiritual  point  of  view,  this  tradi- 
tion may  be  interpreted  as  a  devout  belief  which 
helps  worshippers  to  realize,  so  to  speak,  the 
relations  between  divinity  and  humanity,  which 
brings  the  Supreme  Being  within  our  limited  powers 
of  conception,  establishes  a  bond  of  sympathy,  and 
allows  us  to  address  to  Him  prayers  and  offerings. 
In  fact,  the  dogma  of  Avatars  is  symbolical  of  the 
spiritual  link  and  intercourse  between  God  and 
man;  it  sanctions  and  gives  meaning  to  a  wide- 
spread popular  tradition,  that  divinities  sometimes 
come  down  and  mingle  with  mortals  and  their 
affairs. 

Siva,  on  the  other  hand,  is  never  represented 
by  an  image,  always  by  an  emblem  of  his  powers, 

89 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

destructive  or  regenerative.  He  has  no  Avatars; 
and  the  high  theologians  of  this  school  refuse 
to  admit  that  the  Deity  assumes  visible  embodi- 
ment. They  argue  that,  by  assuming  a  man's 
body,  He  would  become  subject  to  the  laws  of 
mortality,  to  changes,  imperfections,  human  pas- 
sions, and  the  like,  to  birth  and  death — and  this 
they  hold  to  be  impossible,  and  inconsistent  with 
the  divine  nature.  The  Avatar,  they  say,  is  an 
illusion.  They  permit  and  encourage  all  the 
rites  and  worships  of  the  people  as  making  gener- 
ally for  devotion ;  but  they  maintain  that  the  only 
true  spiritual  path  to  salvation,  for  the  superior 
intelligences,  is  by  ascetic  practices,  by  medita- 
tion, by  separation  from  all  worldly  thoughts  and 
cares;  so  that  the  soul  gradually  obtains  true 
communion  with  the  Supreme  Being,  and  be- 
comes at  last  absorbed,  like  a  drop  in  the  ocean, 
into  light  and  rest.  The  metaphor  sometimes 
employed  is  that  the  soul  is  like  the  nickering 
lamp,  tossed  by  the  winds  and  darkness,  which 
loses  itself  completely  in  bright,  noon-day  sun- 
shine, and  remains  still  and  quiet.  To  this  doc- 
trine the  reply  of  the  Vishnu  worshipper  (I  am 
quoting  from  a  writer  in  a  contemporary  Hindu 
magazine  —  the  Dawn)  is  that  it  is  too  high  for 
the  people.  Worship  and  prayer  can  only  be  ad- 
dressed by  ordinary  folk  to  a  personified  Deity. 
The  spiritual  Brahma  may  be  realized  by  intense 
thought  and  constant  discipline  of  the  mind,  so 
that  spirit  can  commune  with  spirit;  but  only  the 

90 


BRAHMINISM 

ascetic  who  has  arrived  at  the  loftiest  stage  of 
devotional  contemplation  can  reach  this  height. 
In  the  mean  time,  what  is  to  be  prescribed  for  the 
untrained,  inferior  souls?  Man's  spiritual  crav- 
ings are  as  strong  and  as  natural  as  his  physical 
wants.  What,xthen,  should  be  his  spiritual  food? 
He  should  take  shelter  under  something,  to  in- 
spire him  with  hope,  liberate  him  from  fear,  and 
qualify  him  to  be  grateful  and  loving,  so  that  he 
may  be  loved  in  return.  A  theology  which  does 
not  attempt  to  be  popular  can  never  be  generally 
useful ;  and  so  it  is  necessary  to  accept  and  believe 
in  ways  of  approaching  the  Deity  that  can  be  used 
and  understood  by  the  people.  Yet,  each  of  these 
two  schools  only  professes  to  show  a  different  path 
to  the  same  goal  of  the  soul's  liberation,  and  its 
absorption  into  Pure  Intelligence;  for  the  Hindu 
mind  cannot  accept,  as  an  ultimate  notion,  a  per- 
sonal Deity  caught  in  the  meshes  of  time,  space, 
and  causality.  It  must  follow  until  He  is  placed 
somewhere  be}Tond  all  phenomenal  relations;  al- 
though the  problem  of  reconciling  the  conditional 
with  the  unconditional  remains  insoluble.  This, 
I  repeat,  is  the  high  philosophical  religion  at  the 
back  of  the  rough,  outward,  popular  worship  of 
all  kinds  of  animals,  stocks  and  stones,  natural 
forces,  deified  men,  local  gods,  and  so  on.  I  do 
not  think  that  the  common  paganism  of  Europe 
in  the  old  times  had  anything  like  this  behind 
it,  any  more  than  the  wild  superstitions  of  un- 
civilized races  have  in  other  parts  of  the  world 


at  this  day.  And,  certainly,  the  Indian  religions 
have  one  great  advantage  unknown,  I  think,  to 
the  ancient  polytheisms — they  have  their  sacred 
books. 

This,  then,  is  the  philosophic  religion  at  the 
back  of  the  popular  worship,  to  which  it  gives  ar 
explanation  and  a  final  purpose.  For  Brahminism 
holds  out  to  all  men,  as  its  scheme  of  salvation, 
the  hope  of  escape  from  the  pain  and  weariness  of 
sensitive  existence  in  any  shape  or  stage.  If  a 
Hindu  be  asked  what  is  the  object  and  ultimate 
good  that  he  is  striving  to  reach  through  religious 
rites  and  devotional  exercises,  he  will  answer 
"Liberation."  Whether  he  be  peasant  or  pun- 
dit, his  reply  will  be  the  same;  he  must  free  his 
soul,  the  divine  particle,  from  the  bondage  of  the 
senses,  from  the  pressure  of  encompassing  phenom- 
ena, and  so  gradually  become  united  with  spirit- 
ual infinity.  To  attain  this  union,  it  must  pass 
through  very  many  bodies  or  forms  of  life;  and 
whether  the  passage  be  short  or  long,  easy  or  ardu- 
ous, depends  upon  a  man's  deeds,  whether  they  be 
good  or  ill,  pleasing  or  displeasing  to  the  high  gods. 
Belief  in  the  transmigration  of  souls  is  common 
among  all  primitive  races,  having  probably  been 
stamped  on  the  imagination  of  mankind  by  the 
constant  alternation  of  death  and  life  in  the  nat- 
ural order  of  things  animate.  With  the  Hindus, 
it  has  become,  universally,  the  shape  into  which 
they  have  cast  the  instinctive  clinging  to  some 
future  existence  which  belongs  to  all  humanity; 

92 


BRAHMINISM 

they  are  convinced  that  each  birth  is  a  waking 
out  of  sleep  and  a  forgetting;  and  to  the  concep- 
tion of  a  long  journey,  with  many  stages,  they 
have  added  the  good  or  moral  purpose  of  purifica- 
tion and  final  changelessness.  The  inner  self, 
that  which  speaks,  is  but  a  particle  of  the  divine 
essence, which  passes  like  a  drop  of  water  through 
cloud  and  river  into  the  ocean.  When  we  realize 
this  to  be  the  effective  creed  of  Brahmiriism,  we 
can  understand  how  such  a  system,  with  its  long, 
laborious  way  to  salvation,  its  antipathy  to  action, 
its  preference  of  grace  to  works,  and  its  conception 
of  divinity  as  something  impersonal,  remote,  and 
everywhere  diffused,  stands  totally  apart  from  the 
energetic,  unwavering  religions  of  the  West,  from 
firm  reliance  on  a  personal  God,  the  Judge  and 
Moral  Governor  of  mankind,  to  whom  all  must  give 
immediate  account  after  death. 

In  regard  to  the  sacred  books,  they  contain, 
partl3T,  the  sayings,  precepts,  and  mystic  utter- 
ances of  the  ancient  sages;  partly,  pra3^ers  and 
psalms;  and,  partly,  abstruse  speculations  on 
the  divine  nature,  with  scholastic  dissertations 
and  commentaries.  The  modern  students  and 
teachers  of  the  various  schools  or  sects  of  Brah- 
minism  treat  these  books  as  authoritative,  and  are 
constant!}7  discussing,  expounding,  or  adapting 
them  to  the  ideas  and  circumstances  of  a  people 
that  is  becoming  profoundly  affected  by  European 
modes  of  thought.  One  thing  must  be  noticed 
in  these  books,  that  they  are  not  historical;  they 

93 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

give  no  account  of  the  rise  or  spreading  of  the  re- 
ligion, they  do  not  trace  it  back  to  a  founder,  as 
in  Christianity,  Mohammedanism,  or  even  Bud- 
dhism. The  Hindu  would  say,  in  the  words  of  an 
early  Christian  father,  that  the  objects  of  religious 
knowledge  are  not  historical,  that  such  things  in 
their  essence  can  only  be  comprehended  intellect- 
ually, or  through  divine  inspiration.  And  the 
fact  that  Brahminism  has  no  authentic  and  uni- 
versally accepted  sacred  narrative,  that  it  is  not 
concentrated  round  the  life  and  acts  of  a  personal 
founder,  is,  I  think,  one  reason  why  it  has  remained 
diffuse,  incoherent,  without  a  central  figure  or 
dominant  plan.  On  the  other  hand,  this  very 
want,  so  to  speak,  of  dogmatic  backbone  has  left 
the  religion  elastic  and  tolerant,  has  enabled  its 
teachers  to  assimilate  and  adapt  the  lower  forms 
of  worship,  instead  of  endeavoring  to  destroy  them. 
Perhaps  I  may  now  have  succeeded  in  showing 
where  lies  the  true  strength  and  backing  of  Indian 
polytheism,  which  looks  at  first  sight  so  irrational, 
grotesque,  and  superficial.  It  is  upheld  and  in- 
terpreted by  the  Brahmins,  who  hold  the  steward- 
ship of  the  mysteries;  so  that,  as  the  worshipper 
advances  in  intelligence  and  culture,  he  may  find 
explanations  which  satisfy  him,  and  inner  mean- 
ings to  account  for  outward  forms.  Although 
the  Brahminic  religion  is  not  militant,  does  not 
make  war  upon  rivals,  nor  openly  go  about  to  make 
proselytes,  yet  it  is  always  ready  to  instruct  and 
admit  the  ignorant  folk  into  its  outer  courts;  and 

94 


BRAHMINISM 

thus  it  gradually  draws  in  the  wilder  races  of  India, 
who  live  in  the  woods  and  hills  of  the  central  region, 
or  on  the  skirts  of  the  mountains.  It  comprehends 
and  absorbs  miscellaneous  beliefs  and  worships, 
treating  all  divinities  as  manifestations  of  univer- 
sal power,  discovering  germs  of  truth  in  the  lowest 
layers  of  superstition,  and  treating  the  way  of  as- 
cent to  higher  notions  as  a  kind  of  ladder,  leading 
by  steps  from  the  bottom  to  the  top. 

"  What  is  the  meaning  of  toleration  in  the  Vedic  sense  of 
the  word?  Not  that  which  makes  all  souls  equal,  all  castes 
equal,  and  creates  a  confusion  worse  confounded,  defeat- 
ing the  providential  design.  The  sacred  teaching  should  be 
adapted  to  the  souls  in  the  order  of  their  merit,  but  not  that 
all  souls,  ripe  or  unripe,  rude  or  unrude,  barbarous  or  civilized, 
.  .  .  should  be  adapted  at  once  to  the  sacred  teaching. 
The  right  meaning  of  toleration  is,  allowing  each  soul  to 
stand  on  its  own  rung,  and  bidding  it  see  below  and  see  above, 
and  understand  that  it  has  got  over  so  many  rungs,  and 
that  there  are  so  many  rungs  to  be  got  over  still.  The  lad- 
der is  tremendously  high.  But  if  you  should  ill-advise  that 
soul  that  its  rung  is  false,  and  that  your  own  rung,  say  several 
steps  above  the  former,  is  true,  and  that  it  should  get  at  once 
to  your  rung,  is  it  possible  or  conceivable  to  jump  over  at 
once  several  intermediate  rungs?  In  perfect  concordance  with 
the  multifarious  merits  of  the  myriads  of  coexistent  souls,  the 
Perfect  Lord  has  fixed  the  corresponding  number  of  stages  of 
religion." 

In  this  extract  from  the  writing  of  an  educated 
Hindu  of  the  present  day,  we  have  the  working 
principle  of  Brahminism,  and  its  attitude  towards 
the  people  at  large,  very  [airly  expounded.  Never- 

95 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

theless,  we  have  always  to  remember  that,  while 
the  religion  is  tolerant,  philosophical,  and  non- 
militant,  yet,  if  Brahminism  were  attacked  by  per- 
secution, political  pressure,  or  by  some  distinctly 
aggressive  heresy  within  its  own  dominion,  it 
would  make  an  obstinate  and  dangerous  resist- 
ance, and  that  any  offensive  disregard  of  caste 
rules  or  social  prejudices  might  provoke  a  violent 
insurrection.  But  this  is  merely  to  say  that  a 
pacific  religion  may  be  formidable  in  self-defence. 
The  secret  of  Brahminism,  therefore,  is  to  make 
abstract  religious  conceptions  popular  by  means 
of  symbols,  pictures,  and  images;  and  conversely 
to  recognize  the  rude  idolatry  and  nature-worship 
of  the  peasantry  as  being  in  some  way  the  igno- 
rant adoration  of  the  greater  gods.  At  the  bottom 
of  the  religious  scale,  this  worship  is  addressed 
to  hills,  rivers,  or  animals,  to  the  thing  or  creat- 
ure itself.  Next  follows  the  process  of  personify- 
ing the  mountain  or  the  flood,  the  tiger  or  the 
boar ;  they  are  the  embodiment  of  deities  who  wield 
power,  usually  malignant;  and  it  is  gradually 
revealed  that  some  profound  theologic  doctrine 
may  be  symbolically  expressed  by  the  same  fig- 
ures. On  the  slopes  of  the  Himalayas,  where 
Buddhism  and  Brahminism  are  intermixed,  the3T 
worship  certain  mighty  female  deities  called  the 
Divine  Mothers,  who  are  types  or  incarnations  of 
powerful  energies  that  can  harm  or  help  mankind. 
One  of  the  most  famous  of  these  deities  is  figured 
to  the  people  as  the  Diamond  Sav,  whose  image 

96 


BRAHMINISM 

may  be  seen  at  Benares,  and  who  is  also  under- 
stood to  be  incorporate  as  the  abbess  of  a  Buddhist 
nunnery  in  Tibet.  Now,  the  Buddhist  symbol  of 
ignorance,  which  is  the  efficient  cause  of  all  illusion, 
is  a  pig ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  wild  boar,  like 
other  fierce  and  destructive  animals,  is  worshipped 
by  primitive  folk  in  the  hills  and  forests.  A  most 
capable  observer,  Sir  John  Edgar,  believes — and 
I  quite  agree  with  him — that  this  aboriginal  boar- 
worship  has  become  identified  with  the  philosoph- 
ical type  of  ignorance  and  illusion ;  so  that  here  we 
have  at  one  end  of  the  ladder  of  religious  evolution 
a  mysterious  dogma,  and  at  the  other  end  a  wild 
beast.  We  have  the  same  example  in  central 
India,  where  the  boar  has  become  one  of  the  twelve 
great  incarnations  of  Vishnu,  and  I  may  quote  an 
account  of  the  transforming  process,  as  it  was  de- 
scribed thirtj7  years  ago  by  a  missionary  who 
wrote  the  best  handbook  of  popular  Hinduism  that 
is  known  to  me : 

"  To  the  southeast  of  Ajmere  is  a  district  inhabited  by  a 
tribe  called  the  Minas.  An  incident  in  the  history  of  one 
of  their  progenitors,  according  to  their  present  tradition,  has 
led  them  to  look  on  the  boar  as  a  sacred  animal,  though  this 
may  be  a  relic  of  boar-worship.  When  the  Mohammedans 
came  to  India,  the  Minas  seem  to  have  confounded  the  Mo- 
hammedan horror  of  the  boar  as  an  unclean  animal  with  their 
own  regard  for  it  as  a  sacred  animal,  and  to  have  been  in- 
duced, in  some  degree,  to  conform  to  their  faith.  In  fact, 
they  were  half  converted  to  Islam.  Their  old  idol,  however, 
they  still  worshipped,  but  gave  it  the  Mohammedan  name 
of  Father  Adam.  Subsequently,  the  Saiva  Brahmins  got 
G  97 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

hold  of  them.  They  did  not  persuade  them  to  give  up  the 
worship  of  Father  Adam  or  of  the  boar,  but  simply  to  allow 
that  Father  Adam  was  a  name  of  Siva,  and  to  worship  the 
cow  as  well  as  the  boar.  Temples  were  erected  in  their  prin- 
cipal villages  and  stones  placed  in  them  bearing  representa- 
tions of  Siva  as  Father  Adam,  of  a  cow  and  a  boar,  and  in- 
scriptions to  the  effect  that  the  Mohammedans  respected  the 
boar  and  the  Hindus  the  cow,  but  the  true  followers  of  Father 
Adam  respected  both;  and  if  they  should  neglect  the  wor- 
ship of  any  one  of  the  three,  the  worship  of  the  other  two 
would  not  benefit  them.  There  are  several  Saiva  temples 
in  the  district  in  which  I  heard  the  Brahmins  invoke  Maha- 
deva,  and  the  Minas  Father  Adam." 

The  truth  is  that  the  method  of  reconciling  all 
these  religions  with  a  double  face,  with  an  outer 
form  and  an  inward  meaning,  is  mysticism.  The 
mystic  is  one  who  is  illuminated  by  the  light  of 
real  knowledge,  who  discerns  the  veiled  divinity 
or  the  secret  doctrine  behind  symbols,  who  per- 
ceives the  unity  of  spiritual  truth  under  many 
forms;  and  whose  business  it  is  gradually  to  lift 
the  curtain  to  those  who  are  fitted  to  understand, 
while  he  allows  the  stage-play  to  go  on  in  front 
for  the  benefit  of  the  crowd.  This  is,  I  think,  the 
secret  of  the  true  Asiatic  religion,  and  to  a  great 
degree  the  source  of  its  strength  and  power  of 
resistance.  Of  course,  mysticism  has  existed  in 
all  religions,  and  has  everywhere  had  its  dangers; 
everywhere,  it  has  led  to  pantheism,  or  the  iden- 
tification of  God  with  nature,  and  even  to  the  self- 
deification  of  the  mystic  himself — he  fancies  that 
he  is  himself  divine  and  confuses  himself  with 

98 


BRAHMINISM 

God.  But,  in  the  West,  this  dissolving  power  of 
mysticism,  which  reduces  all  positive,  outward 
religious  beliefs  and  worship  to  symbolism,  and 
regards  the  historical  facts  of  religion  as  mere 
shadows  and  signs  of  mysterious  truths,  has  been 
vigorously  resisted  both  by  Christian  churches 
and  by  Islam.  Instead  of  explaining  the  lower 
worships,  they  have  trampled  out  and  destroyed 
them;  they  have  insisted  on  the  unequivocal  ac- 
ceptance of  the  facts  of  sacred  history  as  essential 
to  salvation;  and,  undoubtedly,  this  has  been 
one  main  reason  whj7  the  militant  faiths  have  con- 
quered and  kept  a  permanent  dominion. 

But,  in  eastern  Asia,  the  two  different  faces  of 
religion  (I  may  call  them  the  mythical  and  the 
mysterious)  have  remained  and  have  worked  to- 
gether— the  outer  worship  for  the  people  who  must 
have  their  innumerable  deities,  their  images,  and 
their  miraculous  legends;  the  inner  teaching  that 
explains  all  these  things  as  symbolical,  as  signs 
and  shadows  of  divine  truths.  You  will  under- 
stand that  Hinduism  and  Buddhism  have  never 
set  out  formal  creeds,  containing  articles  of  faith 
which  a  man  must  accept  at  his  peril;  they  have 
not  turned  dogmatic  propositions,  such  as  those 
contained  in  the  Athanasian  Creed,  into  ecclesias- 
tical laws,  so  that  a  heretic  who  disputed  them 
might,  as  in  the  Middle  Ages,  be  punished  as 
a  pernicious  law-breaker.  All  these  masterful 
methods  of  enforcing  unity  of  belief,  which  gave 
the  Roman  Church  such  power  in  the  Middle  Ages, 

99 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

and  which  caused  religious  wars  and  long  perse- 
cutions, are  unknown  to  the  tolerant  and  some- 
what indifferent  religions  of  eastern  Asia.  The 
people  could  always  worship  as  they  liked;  and 
the  priests,  or  stewards  of  divine  mysteries,  did 
not  attempt  to  persecute,  because  they  treated  all 
outward  forms  and  rites  as  of  little  importance, 
the  one  thing  really  essential  being  the  inner 
truth  which  lay  behind. 

Nevertheless,  I  repeat  that,  to  my  mind,  the 
strength,  for  resistance  against  outward  attack, 
of  these  Eastern  religions  lies  in  the  fact  that  the 
polytheism  is  backed  by  the  philosophy;  the  ruder 
worships  are  supported  by  intellectual  explana- 
tions, and  the  two  forms  are  closely  allied ;  indeed, 
they  blend  and  run  into  each  other.  But  I  do  not 
pretend  that  this  kind  of  understanding  between 
simple  worships  and  subtle  interpretations  is 
unknown  elsewhere.  On  the  contrarj7,  the  gradual 
elevation  and  refining  of  ritual  and  doctrine  has 
always  gone  on,  is  still  going  on,  in  all  societies 
that  have  a  studious  and  intellectual  priesthood. 
You  find  it  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  which 
has  a  scientific  theology  for  the  elect,  and  manuals 
of  simple  devotion,  full  of  miracles  and  saintly 
legends,  for  the  masses.  But,  while  it  is  the  busi- 
ness of  theology  to  provide  a  reasonable  ground 
for  implicit  faith,  no  Christian  church  openly  al- 
lows tampering  with  the  plain  statements  of  his- 
toric fact  contained  in  revealed  Scripture,  or  permits 
articles  of  faith  to  be  treated  as  anything  but 

100 


BRAHMINISM 

positive  truths.  Hinduism  has  neither  one  au- 
thorized revelation,  nor  a  church  to  guarantee  and 
uphold  it.  Yet,  in  one  way,  the  very  looseness 
of  its  formation  is  an  advantage,  because  it  can 
assimilate  and  find  room  for  almost  any  religious 
conception,  treating  everything  as  a  fresh  mani- 
festation of  the  all-pervading  divine  spirit.  And 
science  troubles  the  Eastern  m3Tstic  no  more  than 
a  fresh  religion;  for  science  may  be  understood 
as  merely  a  symbolical  language,  shadowing  forth 
the  truths  of  divinity.  One  may  even  treat  the 
Asiatic  process  of  assimilating  and  melting  down 
all  religious  ideas  as  belonging  to  the  general  in- 
tellectual tendency  to  accept  the  continuous  growth 
and  elevation  by  slow  change  of  all  forms  and 
feelings,  and  the  gradual  development  of  high- 
er and  wider  truths  contained  in  primitive  be- 
liefs. 

As  the  Brahmins  would  put  it,  their  religion  has 
two  forms:  the  interior,  which  is  invariable;  the 
exterior,  which  may  be  constantly  modified  and 
adapted  to  circumstances.  The  interior  truths, 
the  divine  secrets,  the  real  way  of  salvation,  are 
known  only  to  a  few;  the  great  majority  of  men, 
being  timid  and  ignorant,  are  concerned  mainly 
in  propitiating  the  powerful  and  malignant  in- 
fluences by  which  the}7  fancy  themselves  to  be  sur- 
rounded. As  knowledge  increases,  as  man  suc- 
ceeds in  subduing  and  controlling  the  forces  of 
nature,  he  overcomes  or  despises  the  troubles  of 
this  transitory  life,  he  attains  spiritual  indepen- 

101 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

dence,  and  rises  into  a  higher  sphere  of  religion 
and  morality.  My  suggestion  is  that  a  religion 
of  this  sort,  which  has  its  outworks  in  paganism 
and  its  citadel  in  pantheism,  has  always  had  great 
power  of  resistance  and  endurance,  for  the  very 
reason  that  it  can  change  and  accommodate  itself 
to  social  or  intellectual  conditions.  How  it  will 
maintain  itself  in  front  of  the  rapid  influx  of  Euro- 
pean education  and  material  civilization  is  an- 
other and  much  more  difficult  question.  In  India 
and  in  Japan,  and  to  a  certain  degree  wherever 
European  influences  have  spread  in  eastern  Asia, 
they  are  changing  the  whole  atmosphere  in  which 
fantastic  superstitions  and  metaphysical  specula- 
tions grow  and  flourish;  they  are  introducing 
orderly  government  and  pacific  leisure,  scientific 
methods  of  inquiry  and  critical  reasoning.  Yet, 
after  all,  the  influence  of  Europe  is  mostly  in- 
dustrial and  political;  we  are  reorganizing  the  old- 
fashioned  Asiatic  governments  and  developing 
commerce  and  the  sources  of  wealth.  I  hope  that 
the  morality,  public  and  private,  of  the  countries 
that  are  falling  within  the  sphere  of  European 
influence  will  be  improved.  I  am  not  sure  what 
effect  may  be  produced  upon  the  profound  spirit- 
ualism of  eastern  Asia. 

And  this  brings  us  to  the  weak  side  of  a  religion, 
which,  though  intensely  spiritualistic,  is  founded 
on  somewhat  vague  philosophy,  and  embraces 
schools  of  thought,  accepts  different  theories  as  to 
the  divine  nature.  It  has  no  dogmatic  rulings  upon 

102 


BRAHMINISM 

such  questions  as  are  settled  by  Christian  and 
Mohammedan  creeds;  and,  since  it  has  no. ecclesias- 
tical laws,  it  requires  no  man's  implicit  obedience 
to  its  teachings.  I  do  not  say  that  Hinduism 
contains  nothing  more  than  philosophic  specula- 
tions and  devotional  rhapsodies.  In  the  ascetic 
desire  to  be  rid  of  the  flesh,  to  extinguish  worldly 
thought,  and,  above  all,  in  the  longing  to  escape 
illusion,  change,  and  all  the  ills  of  earthly  existence, 
there  is  a  dominant  strain  of  morality;  and  the 
great  doctrine  of  transmigration  of  souls  may  well 
operate  as  insisting  on  the  penalties  of  sin  and 
the  way  of  ascending  to  salvation  by  purity  of 
conduct.  Yet  Hinduism,  and  even  Buddhism,  has 
never  succeeded  in  so  limiting  and  clearly  stat- 
ing certain  rules  of  faith  and  morals  as  to  lay 
down  and  impress  them  upon  the  people  at  large, 
for  their  practical  guidance  in  life.  They  have 
nothing,  for  instance,  like  our  Ten  Command- 
ments or  the  Lord's  Prayer,  which  order  our  lives 
and  direct  our  consciences. 

It  would  be  presumptuous  to  attempt  any  kind 
of  prediction  as  to  the  religious  future  of  India, 
what  will  be  the  nature  and  direction  of  the  changes 
that  must  follow  altered  circumstances  and  larger 
experiences.  The  antique  polytheism  will  prob- 
ab\y  disappear,  though  slowly,  before  wider  and 
more  precise  conceptions  and  before  a  higher  stand- 
ard of  rational  moralit3\  Long  ago,  indeed,  the 
Hindu  philosophy  struck  out  one  line  of  thought 
that  undermines  all  anthropomorphic  conceptions 

103 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  divinity — that  ultimate  being  must  be  out  of 
relation  with  the  phenomenal  world,  except,  pos- 
sibly, by  an  unconscious  projection  of  creative 
energy.  But  metaphysical  ideas,  though  they 
are  the  central  stronghold  of  all  religious  systems, 
have  little  or  no  influence  upon  the  multitude; 
and  the  more  practical  question  is,  What  effect  will 
be  wrought  upon  educated  Hindus  by  the  teach- 
ings of  physical  science?  The  supremely  dominant 
principle  of  modern  times  is  that  the  world  is  in  a 
course  of  continual  evolution,  that  life  from  the 
protoplasm  is  but  a  phase  of  immemorable  exist- 
ence, and  that  the  death  of  individuals  is  merely 
the  natural  process  whereby  all  material  forms 
are  thrown  into  the  crucible  for  reproduction  in 
fresh  diversity.  But  this  principle  has  already 
been  recognized  by  Indian  thinkers,  with  the  vital 
difference  that  to  them  the  whole  order  of  nature 
was  spiritual,  it  was  stated  in  terms  of  vast  meta- 
physical theories  regarding  the  deified  forces  and 
the  mysterious  relation  to  phenomena  of  some 
Absolute  Being  from  whom  all  souls  issue  and  to 
whom  they  return  in  dreamless  sleep.  The  Indians 
could  not  agree  to  change  a  philosophic  doctrine 
for  a  scientific  discovery.  On  the  contrary,  they 
would  accept  Coleridge's  view  that  the  develop- 
ment theory,  a  theory  of  progress  as  regards  the 
physical  being,  is  typical  of  the  progress  of  man 
as  a  spiritual  being;  that  the  living  soul,  spring- 
ing from  an  unknown  eternity,  is  capable  of  end- 
less improvement,  ever  rising  higher  and  higher 

104 


BRAHMINISM 

through  numberless  cycles  of  existence.  They 
would  firmly  resist  the  invasion  of  the  spiritual 
domain  by  uncompromising  materialism,  which 
would  insist  on  dissipating  all  the  allegories,  sym- 
bolisms, personifications,  and  theosophies,  leaving 
only  the  mechanical  processes  of  plastic  matter, 
the  observation  of  phenomena,  and.  possibly,  as 
some  cold  comfort,  the  worship  of  Humanity. 
If  we  are  to  have  the  cultus  of  Humanity,  why 
not  of  all  sentient  life,  of  nature  in  its  totality? 
And  that  will  bring  us  round  again  to  a  materialis- 
tic pantheism.  But  the  Hindu  mind  is  essentially 
speculative  and  transcendental;  it  will  never  con- 
sent to  be  shut  up  in  the  prison  of  sensual  ex- 
perience, for  it  has  grasped  and  holds  firmly  the 
central  idea  that  all  things  are  manifestations 
of  some  power  outside  phenomena.  And  the 
tendencj7  of  contemporary  religious  discussion 
in  India,  so  far  as  it  can  be  followed  from  a  dis- 
tance, is  towards  an  ethical  reform  on  the  old  foun- 
dations, towards  searching  for  some  method  of 
reconciling  their  Vedic  theology  with  the  practice 
of  religion  taken  as  a  rule  of  conduct  and  a 
system  of  moral  government.  One  can  already 
discern  a  movement  in  various  quarters  towards 
a  recognition  of  impersonal  theism,  and  towards 
fixing  the  teaching  of  the  philosophical  schools 
upon  some  definitely  authorized  system  of  faith 
and  morals,  which  may  satisfy  a  rising  ethical 
standard,  and  may  thus  permanently  embody 
that  tendency  to  substitute  spiritual  devotion 

105 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

for    external    forms    and  caste    rules   which  is 

the   characteristic   of   the  sects   that   have  from 

time    to    time    dissented  from    orthodox    Brah- 
minism. 

A.  C.  LYALL. 


ZOROASTRIANISM    AND    THE 
PARSIS 


ZOROASTRIANISM    AND    THE 
PARSIS 


AMONG  the  numerous  divisions  and  subdivi- 
sions of  Indian  castes,  there  is  a  foreign  ethnical 
group,  which,  in  spite  of  its  alien  environments 
and  utter  isolation,  has  been  able  for  centuries  to 
preserve  the  purity  of  its  race  and  faith  and  most 
of  its  traditional  customs.  We  mean  the  adepts 
of  the  prophet  of  Iran,  Zoroaster,  successively 
called  by  the  European  travellers  who  have  met 
them  on  the  Indian  coast,  "Parseos,"  "Parses," 
"Parsees,"  "Parsis";  they  are  the  descendants 
of  the  fugitives  who  fled  from  Persia  after  the 
Mohammedan  conquest,  and  settled  at  Sanjan 
in  the  eighth  century  of  the  Christian  era.  What 
was  their  exact  number?  Probably  a  very  small 
one.  Was  this  exodus  from  Persia  the  only  one? 
It  appears  that  several  others  took  place,  traces 
of  which  can  be  found  in  upper  India;  but  the 
colony  of  Guzarat  alone  resisted  the  influence  of 
their  surroundings,  and  did  not  merge  into  the 
native  populations.  Nevertheless,  they  were  — 
they  are  still — a  mere  drop  in  the  vast  ocean  of 

109 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

Indian  communities,  and  at  first  they  would  seem 
to  be  a  negligible  quantity,  except  for  the  scholars 
who  see  in  them  the  last  representatives  of  one 
of  the  oldest  creeds  of  the  world  and  the  deposita- 
ries of  the  sacred  books  of  the  Avesta  and  Persian 
lore.  They  are,  in  fact,  the  most  active  agents 
of  progress  and  reform  in  British  India,  and  have 
to  be  considered  from  a  double  standpoint,  both 
religious  and  social.  They  occupy  such  a  con- 
spicuous position  that  an  excellent  critic  affirms 
that  "it  is  scarcely  possible  to  conceive  of  the 
public  life  of  western  India  without  them."  This 
judgment  wrill  meet  writh  no  contradiction  from 
any  quarter.  However,  we  would  not  have  the 
conclusion  drawn  from  this  that  the  Parsis  are 
the  only  workers  in  the  vast  field  of  civic  useful- 
ness. There  are  among  the  other  communities 
deserving  men,  bent  on  promoting  the  welfare  of 
India;  but,  beyond  any  doubt,  at  the  dawn  of  the 
twentieth  century,  the  Parsis  are  enjoying  a  well- 
deserved  reputation  for  enlightened  patriotism. 

"  By  their  natural  ability  and  position  in  the  country, 
they  were  well  fitted  thus  to  be  the  mediators  between  the 
rulers  and  the  ruled,  and  they  are  now  playing  this  part  to  a 
considerable  extent.  In  political  and  literary  matters,  the 
Parsis  have  led  the  Hindus  and  the  Mohammedans.  At 
the  head  of  most  political  associations,  at  any  rate  in  Bom- 
bay, and  in  the  vanguard  of  those  who  fight,  rightly  or 
wrongly,  for  the  political  advancement  of  educated  Indians, 
are  to  be  found  men  of  this  race.  It  is  a  Parsi  for  whom  has 
been  reserved  the  unique  position  of  being  the  first  Oriental 
to  take  a  seat  in  the  British  House  of  Commons.  ...  In 

110 


ZOROASTRIANISM    AND    THE    PARSIS 

social  matters,  they  easily  take  the  lead  of  their  Hindu  coun- 
trymen, as  they  are  singularly  free  from  those  narrow  views 
of  caste  which  hamper  the  latter.  .  .  .  It  is  a  Parsi  who 
has  taken  up  the  cause  of  Social  Reform  among  the  Hindu 
population,  and  tried  to  better  the  lot  of  millions  of  women, 
mute  victims  of  unequal  laws  and  customs  manufactured  dur- 
ing the  dark  ages  of  Indian  history." 

Through  their  association  with  Europeans,  the 
Parsis  have  undergone  a  complete  change  and  have 
taken  their  place  in  our  modern  society.  It  has 
even  been  suggested  that  they  are  so  thoroughly 
Anglicized  that  they  are  lacking  in  interest. 
Quite  the  reverse  is  the  case.  It  is  their  very 
readiness  to  accept  the  improvements  of  life  and 
to  assimilate  our  methods,  their  unprejudiced 
and  broad-minded  intellect,  combined  with  a  pas- 
sionate attachment  to  their  ancestral  creed,  which 
make  them  so  sympathetic.  We  hope  that  in  this 
short  sketch  we  shall  be  able  to  show  that  Western 
civilization  will  not  destroj^  Zoroastrianism,  and 
that  the  future  of  the  small  Parsi  community  is  not 
to  be  looked  to  either  with  concern  or  apprehension 
on  the  sole  pretence  that  they  are  gradually  dis- 
carding purely  Hindu  customs.  What  has  garb 
to  do  with  inner  life  and  faith?  A  Parsi  can  tread 
the  whole  earth,  wear  an}^  sort  of  dress,  embrace 
any  career,  provided  he  keep  pure  in  his  heart  the 
tenets  of  his  religion,  and  make  them  sensible  to 
his  fellow-men  by  putting  into  practice  his  immortal 
precepts  of  good  thoughts,  good  words,  good  deeds. 

*  Karkara,  Forty  Years  of  Progress  and  Reform,  p.  50. 
Ill 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

Such  is  our  own  opinion,  and  it  is  likely  to  be 
shared  by  any  one  who  will  study  the  transfor- 
mation of  the  social  status  of  the  Parsis. 


In  716  A.D.,  after  a  succession  of  hardships,  a 
small  troop  of  Persians,  warriors  and  priests,  fled 
from  their  own  native  land  and  disembarked  at 
Sanjan,  which  is  situated  twenty-five  miles  south 
of  Damaun  (Guzarat),  in  quest  of  a  permanent 
abode  where  they  could  freely  practise  their  re- 
ligious rites.  At  that  time,  Sanjan  was  a  flourish- 
ing emporium,  and  a  favorable  welcome  was  given 
to  the  exiles.  The  Hindu  prince,  the  wise  Tadi 
Rana,  greeted  the  dasturs  (or  priests),  and  asked 
them  several  questions  about  their  creeds  and  habits. 
The  answers  of  the  learned  priests  were  so  satis- 
factory that  a  sort  of  compact  was  passed  between 
the  immigrants  and  the  Rana,  who  gave  them 
permission  to  settle  in  his  territory,  and  granted 
them  the  privilege  of  building  a  temple  of  the 
sacred  fire.  In  their  turn,  the  Persians  submitted 
to  certain  obligations,  as,  for  example,  to  wear  no 
arms,  to  dress  according  to  the  Hindu  fashion,  to 
adopt  some  of  the  local  customs ;  and  they  so  strict- 
ly adhered  to  the  clauses  that,  up  to  the  present 
time,  some  of  them  are  still  observed.  It  is  most  im- 
portant to  note  the  starting-point  of  the  friendly  in- 
tercourse of  the  Parsis  with  the  native  populations. 

112 


ZOROASTRIANISM    AND   THE    PARSIS 

For  years  and  years  the  Parsis  lived  in  perfect 
peace  and  harmony;  they  increased  in  number 
and  dispersed  in  small  knots  over  the  whole  of 
Guzarat.  The  Mohammedan  conquest  at  first 
did  them  harm.  They  had  sided  with  the  Rana 
against  the  Sultan  of  Ahmedabad ;  after  the  storm- 
ing of  Sanjan  they  had  much  to  suffer  from  their 
new  rulers,  and  the  sacred  fire  was  removed  from 
place  to  place.  However,  by  degrees,  the  Parsis 
grew  accustomed  to  the  Mohammedans  and  had 
no  persecution  to  suffer. 

It  seems  that,  during  that  time,  the  community 
was  wholly  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits  and 
absorbed  in  the  practice  of  their  religion.  The 
European  travellers,  Friar  Jordanus,  to  begin 
with,  mention  them  in  their  narratives  and  relate 
some  of  their  customs — for  instance,  fire  worship 
and  funeral  rites.  At  the  close  of  the  fifteenth 
century  occurred  a  most  solemn  hour  in  the 
history  of  the  refugees,  viz.,  the  renewal  of 
the  intercourse  with  the  persecuted  Zoroastrians, 
or  Ghebers,  who  had  persisted  in  dwelling  in 
Persia.  A  wealthy  and  influential  Parsi,  a  resi- 
dent of  Nausari,  named  Changa  Asa,  at  his  own 
expense,  deputed  a  talented  beh-din  (layman), 
Nariman  Floshang,  to  Yezd  and  Kirman,  in  or- 
der to  obtain  answers  to  a  certain  number  of 
questions  relating  to  religion.  The  Ghebers  were 
overjoyed  to  see  their  co-religionist;  they  did  not 
know  that  any  of  their  brethren  had  settled  in 
India.  From  that  time,  the  relations  between  the 
H  113 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

Indian  and  Persian  communities  were  never   in- 
terrupted. 

Under  the  Mogul  rule,  the  Parsis  continued  to 
prosper.  After  having  been  tillers,  toddy-drawers, 
carpenters,  cabinet-makers,  they  became  wealthy 
land-owners,  ship-builders,  and,  in  general,  exten- 
sive traders.  Their  principal  headquarters  were 
Nausari,  the  priestly  town ;  Surat,  the  great  market 
of  the  East ;  Bombay,  the  dowry  of  the  Portuguese 
bride  of  Charles  II.  Caste  system  had  proved 
extremely  beneficial  in  preserving  their  religious 
independence,  but  had  left  them  totally  unprej- 
udiced, and  had  put  no  barrier  between  them 
and  the  foreigners.  Hence  the  great  advantage 
to  them  in  mixing  freely  with  the  Europeans  who 
were  beginning  to  traffic  with  India;  so  that,  far 
from  keeping  aloof  from  the  Portuguese,  the  Dutch, 
the  English,  they  made  their  services  acceptable 
and  acted  as  middlemen  between  the  new-comers 
and  the  natives.  By  degrees  they  supplanted 
the  supple  banyan  ;*  they  became  brokers  of  the 
factories,  dubashes,  shroffs.^  Their  influence  pre- 
vailed, and  their  pent-up  energies  at  last  found 
a  vast  field  for  developing  themselves.  Thanks 
to  unexpected  opportunities,  an  enterprising  spirit, 
and  no  objection  to  sea  voyages,  they  opened  an 
extensive  trade  with  the  Far  East,  especially  with 
China,  Burma,  and  the  Straits.  In  the  mean 

*  Banyan,  a  Hindu  trader,  and  especially  of  the  province  of 
Guzarat.     (See  P.  della  Valle,  i.,  486—7,  and  Lord,  Preface.) 
t  Shroff,  a  money-lender,  a  banker.     (Ar.  sarraf,  also  sairaf.) 

114 


ZOROASTRIANISM    AND    THE    PARSIS 

time,  they  were  doing  good  and  loyal  service  to 
the  United  East  India  Company.  Such  is  the 
orijnn  of  their  attachment  to  British  rule  and  of 
f.i^  pi .  ucular  regard  and  esteem  of  the  British 
Ci'rmient  for  them. 

Europe  also  had  early  attracted  them.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  a  Parsi  had  already  come 
over  to  England,  and  in  the  following  century 
Maniar  was  Burke's  guest  at  Beaconsfield. 

Wealth  rewarded  the  commercial  skill  and  ex- 
treme honesty  of  the  Parsi  traders;  it  made  them 
powerful  and  influential.  Their  liberality  was  uni- 
versally known;  such  men  as  Sorabji  Mancherji 
Readjmioney  and  Ardeshir  Dady  fed  thousands 
of  people  during  the  famines.  Towers  of  silence, 
fire  temples,  dharmsdlas*  charitable  institutions, 
hospitals,  colleges,  were  in  turn  erected  by  the 
munificent  gifts  of  their  merchant  princes.  Above 
all,  they  were  remarkable  for  their  spirit  of  catho- 
licity, which  recognized  no  difference  of  race,  caste, 
and  religion.  Ovington,  as  early  as  1689,  had 
noticed  this  tendency.  In  1842,  Jamshedji  Jiji- 
bhai,  the  Bombay  merchant  so  well  known  in  the 
whole  of  India  for  his  charities,  was  honored  with 
knighthood,  and  in  1857  was  created  baronet, 
the  first  native  to  whom  this  coveted  distinction 
was  granted. 

Such  was  the  situation  of  the  community  in  the 
early  fifties  of  the  nineteenth  century.  At  that 
time  (1852)  Briggs  could  write  with  accuracy  that 

*  Dharmsdla  (pious  edifice),  a  resting-house  for  wayfarers. 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

"  the  bent  of  the  Parsi  community  was  purely  com- 
mercial." He  was  perfectly  right,  and  the  evolu- 
tion, which  has  turned  an  exclusively  mercantile 
caste  into  the  one  priding  itself  most  on  its  educa- 
tion and  its  intellectual  pursuits,  was  only  be- 
ginning to  develop.  It  is  nearly  achieved,  at 
least  in  the  main  lines.  Nowadays,  the  Parsi  is 
no  more  the  broker,  or  dubash,  of  the  European; 
he  sits  next  to  him  on  the  benches  of  the  corpora- 
tions, in  the  high  courts,  at  the  Legislative  and 
Vice  -  Regal  Council  —  nay,  even  in  Parliament. 
No  wonder  that  such  a  contact  has  modified  his  cus- 
toms and  habits.  What  has  become  of  the  ban- 
yan's co-worker,  once  in  dress  and  occupation  so 
much  like  his  rival  that  sometimes  European 
travellers  have  confused  the  two?  The  Parsi  has 
abandoned  his  white  garments,  his  curved  shoes; 
in  India  his  brown  pagri  alone  distinguishes  him. 
On  the  Continent,  he  is  an  English  gentleman. 

This  transformation  that  we  are  now  witnessing 
is  entirely  due  to  Western  education,  and  its  in- 
fluence on  a  race  whose  plasticity  is  undeniable, 
and  whose  powers  of  assimilation  are  of  the  rarest 
order.  This  will  be  seen  presently. 


II 


The  Parsis  were  the  first  natives  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  Western  education  in  the  Bombay 
Presidency;  as  soon  as  the  mission  schools  set 

116 


ZOROASTRIANISM    AND    THE    PARSIS 

to  work  and  the  Elphinstone  Institution  afforded 
a  chance  for  intelligent  youths,  the  Parsis  flocked 
to  them,  in  order  to  benefit  by  the  modern  train- 
ing and  equip  themselves  for  a  new  mode  of  life. 
This  eagerness  to  learn  had  already  incited  their 
best  men  of  the  former  generation  to  attend  the 
schools  of  the  Eurasians  and  retired  soldiers  for 
the  purpose  of  mastering  English.  However,  it 
was  only  in  1849  that  the  enlightenment  of  the 
bulk  of  the  community  was  seriously  undertaken 
by  Sir  Jamshedji  Jijibhai,  who  established  the 
Parsi  Benevolent  Institution  for  indigent  Parsis. 
The  schools  soon  imparted  the  blessings  of  edu- 
cation, free  of  charge,  to  thousands  of  pupils  in 
Bombay  and  the  Mofussil.  Sir  Jamshedji's  exam- 
ple was  followed  by  wealthy  co-religionists,  and  in- 
struction rapidly  spread  among  the  lower  classes. 

Nearly  at  the  same  time  a  spirit  of  reform  had 
inflamed  some  generous,  enterprising  men,  Fur- 
dunji  Naorozji,  Behramji  Ghaudi,  Manakji  Khar- 
shedji,  Dadabhai  Naorozji,  who  were  later  on 
joined  by  S.  S.  Bengali,  K.  N.  Kabraji,  and  others. 
The  reformers  were  bent  on  erasing  from  their 
family  life  and  inner  organization  the  old  Hindu 
varnish,  and  they  set  diligently  to  work.  Their 
task  was  not  an  easy  one.  In  1861  Mr.  Dadabhai 
Naorozji,  in  a  lecture  delivered  at  the  Liverpool 
Philo-Asiatic  Society,  explained  the  peculiar  con- 
dition of  his  own  community.  He  said : 

"  Under  ordinary  circumstances  it  may  not  be  difficult  to 
give  a  general  account  of  the  existing  manners  and  customs 

117 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  a  people;  but,  in  the  case  of  the  Parsis,  in  the  present 
transitional  state  of  their  social  and  intellectual  condition,  it 
is  difficult  to  say  what  the  whole  community  observe  and 
believe." 

He  then  established  a  distinction  betvvr^n  the 
old  class  and  the  young  one,  the  ortL'x  .  and 
the  reformers,  and  gave  a  rapid  description  of 
the  habits  of  both,  one  steeped  in  an  obstinate 
Hindu  conservatism,  the  other  full  of  Western 
aspirations.  The  priestly  influence  had  been  ap- 
pealed to  by  the  two  parties.  And  any  one  who 
desires  to  follow  the  phases  of  the  struggle  can 
peruse  the  old  Guzarati  reports  of  the  associations 
started  in  order  to  support  or  refute  each  other's 
views.  Female  education  formed,  also,  a  serious 
part  of  the  programme  of  the  reformers.  Parsi 
ladies  were  allowed  to  move  about  freely,  to  emanci- 
pate themselves  from  the  secluded  life  which  the 
Hindu  fashion  had  compelled  them  to  adopt.  The 
Parsi's  house  was  gradually  becoming  a  happy 
home,  instead  of  a  gloomy  zenana;  the  Parsi's 
wife  was  made  his  companion,  his  children  his 
friends.  "  Just  as  the  influence  of  English  educa- 
tion had  operated  on  their  mental  condition,  the 
example  of  the  English  modes  of  life  and  domestic 
habits  had  worked  a  revolution  in  their  social 
condition." 

Journalism  and  politics  first  attracted  the  most 
educated;  the  community  soon  produced  a  group 
of  able  and  qualified  professors,  barristers,  ar- 
chitects, publicists,  doctors,  and  scientists.  The 

118 


ZOROASTRIANISM    AND    THE    PARSIS 

admission  of  natives  to  the  different  branches  of 
the  public  service  also  increased  their  eagerness 
to  win  degrees  and  diplomas.  '  The  schoolmaster 
is  abroad/'  Dadabhai  had  said  in  his  Liverpool 
lecture;  and  this  far-away  schoolmaster,  whose 
influence  was  so  keenly  felt,  was  in  fact  the  most 
important  personage  at  that  stage  of  the  Parsis' 
social  evolution. 

The  ladies  were  not  long  in  soliciting  complete 
equality  with  their  lords.  Vernacular,  Anglo- 
vernacular,  and  English  institutions  afforded 
them  the  best  opportunities.  Some  of  them  ma- 
triculated; others  followed  the  whole  university 
training,  and  were  among  the  very  first  Indian 
ladies  to  obtain  degrees  (B.A.).  In  medicine, 
especially,  they  are  at  their  best;  Parsi  lady-doc- 
tors are  numerous  and  talented.  In  1900  Miss 

P.  B has  become  M.A.,  the  only  Indian  lady 

who  has  gained  that  degree. 

Now,  in  order  to  acquaint  our  readers  with  the 
men  of  whom  the  Parsis  have  just  reason  to  be  proud, 
we  shall  introduce  to  them  the  two  great  person- 
alities alluded  to  in  the  first  pages  of  this  article — 
Mr.  Dadabhai  Naorozji  and  Mr.  Behramji  Malabari. 
Both  are  the  best  representatives  of  the  aspirations 
of  the  forward  party  in  politics  and  social  reform. 

Mr.  Dadabhai  Naorozji  sums  up  in  his  long 
life  the  whole  evolution  of  his  own  community. 
Born  in  1825  among  the  priestly  class,  he  was 
forced  to  submit  to  the  Hindu  custom  of  infant 
marriage,  which  had  also  made  havoc  among  the 

119 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

Parsis.  Under  the  excellent  tuition  of  an  in- 
telligent mother,  he  was  most  successful  in  his 
college  career,  and  was  among  the  first  batch  of 
Elphinstonians,  won  prizes  and  medals,  and  was 
the  first  native  appointed  to  the  chair  of  mathe- 
matics and  natural  history  at  the  Elphinstone 
Institution  (1852-54).  He  soon  resigned  his  pro- 
fessorship, and  went  to  England  as  a  partner  in 
Mr.  K.  R.  Cama's  firm,  the  first  established  in 
London  through  the  agency  of  natives.  In  1874 
we  see  him  at  the  court  of  the  Gaekwar  of  Baroda, 
exercising  the  functions  of  diwan  (prime  minister) ; 
then,  in  1885,  he  was  appointed  by  Lord  Reay  a 
member  of  the  Bombay  Legislative  Council.  After 
having  failed  in  1856,  he  succeeded  in  being  elected 
in  1892  as  a  Liberal  member  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons by  a  London  constituency  (Central  Fins- 
bury  Division). 

That  a  native  can  be  returned  to  Parliament 
will  excite  the  wonder  of  foreigners.  Let  them 
remember  that  a  native  is  a  British  subject.  Let 
them  also  reflect  upon  the  number  of  difficulties 
which  a  candidature  of  that  kind  is  certain  to  en- 
counter! At  the  fall  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  ministry 
Mr.  Dadabhai  retired. 

Such  are  the  main  lines  of  this  useful  career. 
Mr.  Dadabhai 's  activity  has  been  unparalleled, 
his  zeal  for  the  welfare  of  India  indefatigable. 
In  his  youth,  he  was  already  at  work  with  the 
Bombay  reformers;  in  England,  he  endeavored 
to  bring  India  nearer  to  the  metropolis,  to  promote 

120 


ZOROASTRIANISM    AND    THE    PARSIS 

among  the  natives  the  advantages  of  a  system 
of  education  which  would  enable  them  to  take  an 
active  share  in  the  administration  of  their  coun- 
try. He  also  presided  over  the  national  congress, 
and  started  with  Air.  B.  Malabari  the  Voice  of 
India,  at  the  instigation  of  Sir  W.  Wedderburn. 
There  he  pursued  the  same  object  which  he  al- 
ways kept  in  view,  namely,  to  connect  India  with 
England  and  to  place  the  two  countries  in  direct 
relationship  with  each  other  without  the  in- 
tervention of  the  Anglo-Indians.  His  chief  oc- 
cupation for  years  has  been  the  study  of  financial 
questions  of  the  highest  order.  He  has  striven 
— he  still  strives — to  denounce  the  causes  of  the 
increasing  poverty  of  India,  the  very  causes  of 
the  two  last  disastrous  famines  which  were  point- 
ed out  by  Mr.  B.  Malabari  in  his  remarkable  me- 
moir of  India  in  1897,  and  recently  by  Mr.  Digby, 
so  well  known  as  the  originator  and  honorary 
secretary  of  the  Indian  Famine  Relief  Fund  in 

1877- 

Next  to  Mr.  Dadabhai  ranks  the  great  reformer, 
Mr.  Behramji  M.  Malabari.  "He  is  not  a  noisy 
politician,"  sa3's  his  Hindu  biographer,  Mr.  Daya- 
ram  Gidumal,  "but  he  has  had  no  small  share 
in  moulding  the  political  history  of  the  last  ten 
years.  He  has  been  the  right  hand  of  Dadabhai 
Xaorozji,  and  by  his  moderation  as  editor  of  a 
leading  native  paper,  and  by  his  influence  with 
the  native  press,  did  yeoman's  service  in  times 
of  trouble."  Indeed,  he  has  succeeded  in  making 

121 


GREAT   RELIGIONS    OF    THE    WORLD 

the  Indian  Spectator  the  people  of  India's  own 
paper.  "Being  a  man  of  the  people  himself/' 
says  the  Bombay  Review,  "he  could  understand 
the  great  majority  of  the  nation,  and  was  par- 
ticularly fitted  for  being  a  trustworthy  inter- 
preter between  rulers  and  ruled."  An  excellent 
Guzarati  poet,  wielding  a  powerful  English  pen, 
he  had  at  an  early  age  acquired  a  great  repu- 
tation. 

His  life  is  not  without  a  romance.  The  auto- 
biography of  his  childhood  is  "  inoubliable,"  to 
quote  the  expression  of  the  French  critic  Filon,  and 
is  worthy  of  a  place  beside  Rousseau's  Confes- 
sions, Dickens's  David  Copperfield,  and  Dau- 
det's  Petite  Chose.  Mr.  Malabari  was  left  a  pen- 
niless orphan  at  the  early  age  of  twelve  years. 
He  bravely  fought  the  hard  battle  of  life,  teach- 
ing the  whole  day  boys  older  than  himself,  and 
during  sleepless  nights  warbling  beautiful 
Guzarati  tunes,  the  whole  time  sustained  in  his 
hard  struggle  by  the  invisible  presence  of  his 
departed  saint,  his  beloved  mother.  "Firdausi 
sings  of  Rustam  having  carried  the  dead  bones 
of  his  son  Sorab  round  his  neck  in  a  string  to 
remind  him  of  his  irreparable  loss.  I  carry  my 
mother  about  in  the  spirit.  She  is  always  present 
to  me.  In  every  good  woman  I  see  my  mother.  I 
pity  every  bad  or  ill-used  woman  for  my  mother's 
sake." 

At  thirty  he  was  a  successful  man,  and  wealth 
and  honors  were  within  his  reach,  when  suddenly 

122 


ZOROASTRIANISM    AND    THE    PARSIS 

a  change  came  over  him.  He  began  to  speculate 
about  the  evils  that  mar  the  Hindu  civilization 
in  the  higher  classes,  infant  marriage  and  en- 
forced widowhood,  and  took  an  intense  interest 
in  the  inner  movement  of  social  reform,  which 
was  silently  at  work  among  some  thoughtful 
Hindus.  He  resolved  to  join  them,  to  take  the 
lead,  if  no  other  would  do  it,  and  for  ten  long  years 
he  was  engrossed  in  his  task.  Lectures,  pam- 
phlets, tracts — all  over  India — voyages  to  London, 
he  used  any  resource  at  hand;  until  at  last  he 
succeeded  in  obtaining  from  the  government  the 
promulgation  of  the  Age  of  Consent  Act,  which 
actually  puts  a  stop  to  infant  marriages  and 
diminishes  the  chances  of  early  widowhood  (1891). 
Heaven  alone  knows  the  persecutions  that  the 
noble  soul  had  to  bear  from  the  orthodox  party; 
the  Brahminic  cliquism  is  so  well  able  to  abuse 
and  revile  adversaries!  Hindus,  generally  speak- 
ing, are  so  touchy!  They  do  not  like  to  be  lect- 
ured by  outsiders.  The  result  was  that  he,  Mr. 
Malabari,  who  had  been  the  most  popular  among 
his  contemporaries,  when  he  took  social  reform  in 
hand,  immediately  lost  his  popularity;  but  he  did 
not  care.  He  had  made  up  his  mind,  and  he  ac- 
cepted the  consequences  of  his  generous  resolution. 
He  sacrificed  excellent  opportunities  in  order  to  be 
independent,  and  set  a  sublime  example  of  disinter- 
estedness ;  he  refused  honors,  such  as  the  shrieval- 
ty of  Bombay  and  knighthood  (1887).  In  return, 
he  gained  the  admiration  of  the  enlightened  few 

123 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

who  remained  loyal  to  him.  "  The  country  that 
produces  a  man  of  that  stamp,"  said  Max  Miiller, 
"is  not  a  decadent  country,  but  may  k"-1-  -ard 
to  a  bright,  sunny  future,  as  it  can  IOOK  with 

satisfaction,  and  even  pride,  on  four  sand 

years  of  a  not  inglorious  history." 

In  literature,  Mr.  Malabari's  name  i*v  'iiost 
familiar  to  English  readers  from  his  well-known 
work,  The  Indian  Eye  on  English  Life,  and  his 
Guzarat  and  the  Guzaratis.  Some  people  see 
in  him  "the  best  among  the  men  whom  India  is 
producing,  in  the  course  of  her  new  development " 
under  British  rule.  We  admit  that  there  is  some 
force  in  that  description,  but  we  shall  here  repeat 
what  we  have  stated  elsewhere.  There  are  others 
of  Mr.  Malabari's  contemporaries  who  can  with 
equal  justice  be  described  as  the  best  products  of 
English  education.  To  him  we  shall  assign  a 
different  role.  "  If  in  the  annals  of  his  community 
Mr.  Malabari  is  the  first  independent  thinker,  and, 
in  those  of  India,  the  greatest  reformer,  still  in 
his  thought,  wholly  emancipated,  he  belongs  to  the 
civilization  of  the  world,  and,  by  his  work,  to  the 
history  of  humanit}7.  In  fact,  Mr.  Malabari  shines 
brightest  when  least  indebted  to  outside  influence; 
in  essence,  he  is  a  Parsi  and  an  Indian." 

Now,  though  young,  he  lives  almost  the  life  of  a 
recluse,  visits  plague  hospitals  and  famine  camps. 
When  in  Europe,  either  in  Paris  or  London,  he 
studies  social  questions  and  keeps  aloof  from 
society.  Some  day  he  will  again  appear  with  a 

124 


ZOROASTRIANISM    AND    THE    PARSIS 

new  ideal,  a  new  aim  connected  with  the  welfare  of 
India. 

Ill 

/ 

lax  'er  long  ago  pointed  out  that  the  ex- 
treme «  cit3T  of  Parsi-ism  is  the  cause  of  the 
great  attachment  of  its  devotees,  the  cause,  also, 
of  the  rare  facility  with  which  the  Parsi  accepts 
outward  changes  without  incurring  the  risk  of 
impeaching  his  faith.  We  cannot  attempt  to  sum 
up  the  whole  history  of  Zoroastrianism  in  a  few 
lines.  Every  one  keeps  in  his  memory  the  glori- 
ous career  of  the  Persian  Empire.  After  the  Mo- 
hammedan conquest,  it  disappeared  from  the  view 
of  the  world,  and  for  centuries  was  faithfully  pre- 
served in  the  two  small  communities  of  Persia  and 
India.  The  European  scholars  were  left  to  their 
own  speculations,  and  possessed  only  such  infor- 
mation as  could  be  derived  from  the  classics. 

When  Anquetil  Duperron  brought  Avesta  to 
Europe,  it  created  a  great  sensation.  He  gave 
a  new  impetus  to  science,  and  people  know  the 
glorious  work  done  later  by  Burnouf  and  his 
followers.  The  Parsis,  at  first,  were  totally 
ignorant  of  the  European  studies  bearing  upon 
their  sacred  books.  In  fact,  the  attacks  of  a  mis- 
sionary, Dr.  J.  Wilson,  on  the  question  of  con- 
version, obliged  the  dasturs  to  come  forward  and 
explain  the  tenets  of  their  religion.  They  did 
it  in  full  earnestness  and  fairness,  preserving 

125 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

their  pure  traditional  doctrine.  It  was  only  when 
Dr.  Haug  was  appointed  superintendent  of  San- 
scrit studies  in  the  Poona  College,  and  was  brought 
into  contact  with  the  priests,  that  the  distrust 
subsided.  Dr.  Haug  even  collaborated  with  one 
of  the  dasturs,  Hoshanji  Jamaspji.  Another  de- 
cisive step  was  taken  by  a  clever  beh-din,  Mr.  K. 
R.  Cama:  on  his  return  from  Europe,  where  he 
had  been  acquainted  with  savants  of  high  repute 
— Spiegel,  for  instance — he  undertook  to  teach 
Zend  and  Phelvi  on  the  modern  philological  prin- 
ciples, and  introduced  them  among  his  co-relig- 
ionists. Now  there  is  a  complete  parallelism  be- 
tween the  methods  of  the  two  schools  of  Europe 
and  India.  The  latter  produces  original  works 
and  valuable  translations,  which  do  the  greatest 
honor  to  the  community. 

Moreover,  the  dasturs,  who  for  so  long  had 
carefully  concealed  the  tenets  of  their  religion, 
grew  even  more  and  more  willing  to  give  informa- 
tion about  them.  Sometimes  they  do  not  quite 
agree  with  the  views  of  our  Western  scholars.  No 
wonder;  science  and  faith  cannot  use  the  same 
criterion. 

Zoroastrianism,  or  Parsi-ism,  is  a  monotheistic 
form  of  religion,  not  a  polytheistic  one,  as  some 
people  would  have  it.  There  is  but  one  God  under 
different  names,  Mazda,  Ahura,  and  Ahura-Mazda. 
He  manifested  himself  to  a  Bactrian  or  Median 
philosopher  or  reformer,  Zoroaster,  who  is  consid- 
ered to  have  constituted  a  religious  doctrine,  set 

126 


ZOROASTRIANISM    AND    THE    PARSIS 

forth  in  the  sacred  books  of  Avesta.  According 
to  Herodotus,  the  Persians  had  no  images  of  the 
gods,  no  temples,  no  altars,  and  they  considered 
the  use  of  them  a  sign  of  folly.  The  modern  Par- 
sis  are  of  the  same  opinion  as  their  forefathers, 
and  repudiate  any  representation  of  the  deity. 

Zoroaster's  speculative  philosophy  teaches  us 
that  the  world  is  the  work  of  two  hostile  princi- 
ples, Spenta-Maynu,  the  good  principle,  and  Angra- 
Maynu,  the  evil  principle,  both  serving  under  one 
God — the  first  being  the  author  of  whatever  is 
bright  and  shining,  good  and  useful;  the  second 
of  what  is  dark  and  noxious.  The  conflict  will 
end  in  the  triumph  of  the  good  principle. 

The  confusion  of  the  philosophical  and  theo- 
logical system  has  given  rise  to  the  belief  in  dual- 
ism, and  led  to  the  identification  of  the  principle  of 
good  with  Ahura- Mazda  himself.  Let  us  here 
quote  Dr.  Haug,  whose  authority  is  so  great  in 
these  matters.  '  The  Parsis  are  strict  monotheists, 
and,  whatever  may  have  been  the  views  of  former 
philosophical  writings,  their  one  supreme  divinity 
is  Ahura-Mazda.  Their  view  of  Angra-Maynu 
seems  to  differ  in  no  respect  from  what  is  supposed 
to  be  the  orthodox  Christian  view  of  the  devil." 
In  man  himself  we  find  the  same  struggle.  Salva- 
tion depends  entirely  on  his  own  efforts  and  deeds ; 
so  it  becomes  his  peremptory  duty  to  lead  a  holy 
life  and  to  think,  to  speak,  and  to  act  righteousty. 
The  Mazdayasnian  religion  enjoins  a  sublime  code 
of  ethics.  Mgr.  de  Harlez  has  rightly  said  that 

127 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  Mazdian  religion  is  distinguished  from  all 
other  ancient  religions  in  this — that  it  has  a  "  moral 
systematized  and  founded  upon  philosophic  prin- 
ciples." The  late  lamented  Dr.  Haug  also  ob- 
serves that  the  moral  philosophy  of  Zoroaster  is 
moving  in  the  triad  of  thought,  word,  and  deed. 
These  three  words  form  the  pivot  upon  which  the 
moral  structure  of  Zoroastrianism  turns. 

But  in  the  company  of  holy  souls  will  be  the 
reward  of  the  pure ;  the  wicked  will  go  to  the  house 
of  impurity  and  utter  darkness.  But  at  the  end 
of  the  world  (which  is  to  be  synchronous  with  the 
end  of  the  present  cycle)  there  will  be  a  general 
purification  and  regeneration.  All  souls  will  be 
furnished  with  new  bodies  and  commence  a  life 
of  ineffable  bliss.  r'Then  he  [the  Saostryant*] 
shall  restore  the  world,  which  will  [thenceforth] 
never  grow  old  and  never  die,  never  decaying 
and  never  rotting,  ever  living  and  ever  increasing, 
and  master  of  its  wish,  when  the  dead  will  rise, 
when  life  and  immortality  will  come,  and  the 
world  will  be  restored  at  [God's]  wish."  f 

Zoroastrian  worship  consists  of  oral  recitations 
of  portions  of  the  sacred  words,  or  such  recitations 
combined  and  accompanied  with  the  performance 
of  ritual.  The  offerings  are  fruit,  flowers,  milk, 
incense,  especially  the  juice  of  the  haoma  plant. 
The  offices  are  few ;  they  are  performed  by  priests, 
who  constitute  a  distinct  class  apart  from  the  rest ; 
no  layman  can  become  a  priest:  no  priest  can 

*  The  Messiah  of  the  Parsis.  t  Zamyad  Yasht,  p.  89. 

128 


ZOROASTRIANISM    AND    THE    PARSIS 

even  marry  the  daughter  of  a  layman.  In  the 
priestly  class,  all  the  j^ouths  now  do  not  pass 
through  the  Navar  and  Martab  ceremonies  which 
made  them  priests  (ervad).  The  dignity  of  dastur 
is  the  highest  in  the  craft.  Their  duties  are  numer- 
ous; they  have  to  attend  to  the  service  of  the  tem- 
ples and  keep  the  fire  constantly  burning  there. 
The  ancient  Iranians  always  regarded  this  ele- 
ment as  the  symbol  of  divinity  and,  as  such,  worthy 
of  respect;  but  they  never  professed  themselves  to 
be  the  worshippers  of  the  Fire.  The  modern  Parsis 
consider  fire  "as  an  emblem  of  refulgence,  glory, 
and  light,  as  the  most  perfect  symbol  of  God  and 
as  the  best  and  noblest  representative  of  his  divin- 
ity." Bishop  Meurin  has  given  his  opinion  about 
fire  reverence  in  such  excellent  and  choice  expres- 
sions that  we  cannot  help  quoting  them.  "  I  am, 
therefore,  very  far  from  supposing  that  the  Parsi 
fire  worship  is  idolatry.  Whoever  accuses  the 
Parsis  of  that  most  heinous  of  all  crimes,  and  is 
not  able  to  prove  that  they  believe  fire  or  sun  to 
be  God  himself,  is  certainly  guilty  of  the  most  de- 
testable sin  of  calumny." 

The  Zoroastrian  is  not  forced  to  attend  places 
of  worship  in  order  to  say  his  prayers  nor  to  wait 
for  a  priest.  The  old  Iranians,  as  is  well  known, 
deemed  that  nature  in  all  its  grandeur  is  their 
temple  of  worship.  Often,  at  Bombay,  numbers  of 
Parsis  go  to  the  sea-shore  and  recite  their  prayers, 
with  their  faces  turned  to  the  rising  or  the  setting 
sun. 

I  129 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

The  religious  obligations  of  the  Parsi  are  few. 
Between  the  age  of  seven  and  five  a  Zoroastrian 
must  be  invested  with  the  sudeah  (shirt)  and 
kitshti  ( girdle ),  which  are  the  visible  symbols 
or  emblems  of  the  Mazdayasni  religion.  The  cer- 
emony is  called  naojot  (new,  or  first,  worship). 
The  candidate  declares  himself  to  be  a  worshipper 
of  Mazda,  a  follower  of  Zoroaster,  an  opponent 
of  daevas  (false  gods),  and  subject  to  the  laws  of 
Ahura.  Marriage  is  blessed  by  a  priest;  the  out- 
ward pomp  is,  or  rather  was,  totally  Hindu.  As 
to  death  and  funeral  rites,  the  ceremonies  are  most 
antique;  the  mode  of  disposing  of  the  dead  on 
high  walls  or  stone  platforms  (towers  of  silence) 
is  purely  Avestic.  Of  course,  it  has  long  been  and 
it  still  is  an  object  of  wonder  to  foreigners;  but, 
after  a  consideration  of  the  laws  of  hygiene  and 
sanitation,  the  most  averse  to  the  custom  grow 
reconciled  to  it. 

A  remarkable  feature  of  modern  Parsi-ism  is 
the  repugnance  of  the  whole  community  either  to 
proselytism  or  conversion.  It  is  a  fact  that  the 
Parsis  have  al\va3rs  been  deaf  to  the  allurements 
of  the  Brahminic  worship  and  to  the  earnest  ap- 
peals of  Christian  missionaries.  The  coarse  Hin- 
duism of  the  present  could  not  tempt  the  pure  soul 
of  the  monotheistic  MazdajTasni ;  as  to  the  appeals 
of  the  missionaries,  they  have  been  also  fruitless 
for  other  reasons.  The  remembrance  of  the  few 
conversions  made  by  Dr.  Wilson  (1839)  is  still  ver37 
bitter.  At  that  time,  a  Zoroastrian  boastingly 

130 


ZOROASTRIANISM    AND    THE    PARSIS 

could  say  to  the  ardent  apostle:  "With  regard 
to  the  conversion  of  a  Parsi,  you  cannot  even 
dream  of  the  event,  because  even  a  Parsi  babe  cry- 
ing in  the  cradle  is  firmly  confident  in  the  venera- 
ble Zarthust."  Since  then  conversions  have  been 
rare. 

The  best  proof  of  the  attachment  of  the  enlight- 
ened Parsi  to  his  religion  is  to  be  found  in  Dr. 
Wilson's  protege,  Mr.  Malabari,  whose  companion 
and  class-fellow,  S.  D.  B. ,  embraced  Chris- 
tian^7. Mr.  Malabari  has  stated  that  he  resisted 
the  influence  of  his  old  and  respected  friend,  simply 
because  he  believed  in  salvation  by  faith  and  by 
word,  but  did  not  think  the  mediation  of  another 
absolutely  necessary  for  salvation.  However,  he 
is  not  one  of  those  who  speak  lightly  of  Christ. 
"I  know  not,"  he  says,  "if  India  will  become 
Christian,  and  when.  But  this  much  I  know,  that 
the  life  and  work  of  Christ  must  tell  in  the  end. 
After  all,  He  is  no  stranger  to  us  Easterns.  How 
much  He  brings  back  to  us  refined  and  modern- 
ized!" As  to  the  missionaries,  he  fully  acknowl- 
edges their  good  service  to  the  cause  of  civilization. 

"  We  are  indebted  to  them  for  the  first  start  in  the  race  for 
intellectual  emancipation.  It  is  to  them  that  we  are  beholden 
for  some  of  our  most  cherished  political  and  social  acquisi- 
tions. .  .  .  Apart  from  its  active  usefulness,  the  Chris- 
tian mission  serves  as  a  buffer  for  the  side  of  skepticism  usual- 
ly inseparable  from  intellectual  emancipation.  At  a  time 
when  doubt  and  distrust  are  to  take  the  place  of  reasoned  in- 
quiry among  the  younger  generation  of  India,  I  feel  bound 
to  acknowledge  in  my  own  person  the  benefits  I  have  derived 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

from  a  contact  with  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  But  for  that 
holy  contact  I  could  scarcely  have  grown  into  the  stanch 
and  sincere  Zoroastrian  that  I  am,  with  a  keen  appreciation 
of  all  that  appeals  readily  to  the  intelligence  and  a  reverend 
curiosity  for  what  appeals  to  the  heart,  knowing  full  well  that 
much  of  what  is  mysterious  to  man  is  not  beneath,  but  beyond, 
the  comprehension  of  a  finite  being." 

The  Parsis  are  totally  ignorant  of  propaganda; 
they  are  most  tolerant  and  never  attempt  to  change 
the  creed  of  any  one.  Were  they  always  so?  Is 
their  present  reserve  in  keeping  with  the  Zoroastrian 
precepts?  It  seems  that  in  days  of  yore  they  were 
more  zealous.  Some  ancient  treatises  are  of  an 
essentially  propagandist  character,  and  we  can- 
not help  alluding  to  the  most  severe  persecutions 
that  the  Christians  had  to  endure  under  the  Sas- 
sanian  princes.  Nevertheless,  the  Parsis,  in  India, 
show  the  greatest  reluctance  to  increase  their 
number,  not  only  by  conversion,  but  also  by  any 
alliance  with  people  of  other  religions.  So  that 
they  have  to  multiply  by  marrying  among  them- 
selves; fortunately,  they  belong  to  a  prolific  race, 
if  we  consider  the  small  number  of  the  first  settlers 
and  their  present  position. 

IV 

According  to  the  general  census  of  1891,  the  num- 
ber of  Parsis  then  in  India  was  89,904;  76,774 
are  quartered  in  the  Bombay  Presidency.  The 
city  of  Bombay  has  a  flourishing  Parsi  popula- 

132 


ZOROASTRIANISM    AND    THE     PARSIS 

tion  of  47,498  souls;  Surat,  12,757;  then  we  can 
mention  Broach,  Thana,  Karachi,  etc.  The  priest- 
ly town  of  Nausari  is,  perhaps,  the  most  important 
of  the  settlements  outside  British  territory.  The 
occupations  in  the  lower  classes  are  varied  and 
numerous.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  Parsis  have 
never  taken  to  the  more  menial  employments,  such 
as  those  of  daj-laborers,  scavengers,  palki-bearers, 
barbers,  washermen,  grooms,  etc.  Before  the  ter- 
rible trials  of  plague  and  famine,  among  thou- 
sands of  mendicants  there  were  only  five  Parsis, 
four  males  and  one  female.  As  to  the  victims  of 
immorality,  a  Parsi  was  proud  to  record  that  "  not 
a  single  Parsi  female  returned  herself  as  living 
on  the  wages  of  shame."  * 

The  Parsis  are  not  exclusively  quartered  in 
India.  Some  are  to  be  found  in  China  (Canton, 
Macao,  Hong  -  Kong),  Penang,  Rio,  Mauritius, 
Cape  Town,  Madagascar,  Australia.  We  do  not 
mention  Europe,  where  they  come  frequently,  either 
for  study  or  pleasure,  never  for  a  permanent  stay, 
except  in  London. 

We  must  not  forget  the  small  group  of  the  Zo- 
roastrians  living  in  the  Persian  provinces  of  Yezd 
and  Kirman.  Their  condition  was  for  years  mis- 
erable to  a  degree.  The  number  of  the  educated 
few  is  limited;  the  head  of  the  Yezd  community 
is  Mr.  Ardashir  Mihraban,  with  whom  the  writer 
became  acquainted  through  Mr.  E.  G.  Browne, 
the  eminent  lecturer  on  Persian  at  Cambridge,  his 

*  Karaka,  History  of  the  Parsis, 
133 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

guest  in  Persia.  In  spite  of  his  endeavors,  he 
has  not  yet  succeeded  in  raising  the  intellectual 
level  of  his  co-religionists.  Their  social  status  is 
very  low,  indeed;  and  it  is  even  difficult — this  we 
know  from  experience — to  lighten  their  burdens, 
as  they  are  still  too  ignorant  to  understand  the 
benefits  of  certain  improvements. 

Their  condition  has  been  greatly  ameliorated  by 
Nasr-Eddin,  who,  by  a  firman,  restored  them  to 
a  footing  of  equality  with  his  Mohammedan  sub- 
jects (1882).  Their  number  did  not  exceed  9,269 
in  1891.  They  are  remarkable  for  their  honesty 
and  chastity.  Their  Indian  brethren  have  started 
a  fund  on  their  behalf. 


V 


What  is  the  future  of  the  Parsis?  The  question 
is  momentous,  and  it  is  difficult  for  an  outsider 
to  decide.  Socially,  they  are  growing  more  and 
more  important ;  the  number  of  their  distinguished 
men  is  daily  increasing,  and  they  have  acquired 
a  wide-spread  influence.  Now,  as  to  religion,  they 
are  certainly  more  enlightened  than  their  fore- 
fathers; but  are  they  the  same  stanch  believers 
as  their  predecessors?  European  rationalism  does 
not  spare  their  sacred  books,  and  the  spirit  of  free 
inquiry  seems  to  have  inflamed  some  of  their  young 
men.  It  has  rightly  preoccupied  thoughtful 
philosophers.  Mr.  Malabari  calls  his  co-religion- 
ists "a  flock  without  a  shepherd,"  and  he  is  right. 

134 


ZOROASTRIANISM    AND    THE    PARSIS 

The  community  lacks  unity;  that  is  evidently 
the  weak  point.  For  years  and  years  the  Parsis 
were  led  by  their  own  Panchayet,*  which  ceased 
to  exist  after  the  promulgation  of  the  laws  of  mar- 
riage and  inheritance.  The  courts  took  the  place 
of  the  anjuman.^  On  the  other  hand,  the  au- 
thority of  the  Dastur  Dasturan,%  being  purely 
nominal,  had  ceased  also  to  be  effective.  So  that 
the  two  supports,  religious  and  civil,  happened 
to  fail  at  almost  the  same  time. 

The  Parsis  have  thus  reached  a  turning-point 
in  their  national  career,  a  period  as  important 
as  that  when  they  began  to  mingle  with  Moham- 
medans and  Europeans.  The  revival  which  fol- 
lowed has  not  yet  ended,  and  they  seem  launched 
on  the  path  of  progress;  but  there  are  symptoms 
of  such  a  rapid  change  in  customs  and  ideals 
that  one  feels  almost  afraid  of  such  rapidity. 

Fortunately  —  if  we  can  say  so  —  all  the  classes 
are  not  yet  won  over.  The  contest  between  the 
old  class  and  the  young  one  is  by  no  means  settled. 
There  are  still  Parsis  in  the  Mof  ussil  who  are  steep- 
ed in  a  pure  conservatism.  These  are  the  very 
men  who  will  serve  as  a  dam  to  restrain  the  vio- 
lence of  the  flood.  Gradually,  they  will  be  gained 
to  the  cause  of  modern  education,  and  they  will 
allow  the  forward  part}^  to  try  experiments  which 
will  guard  the  new  generation  against  exaggerated 
theories.  They  will  also  learn  that  the}^  lack 


*  The  National  Assembly  of  the  Parsis.  f  An  assembly. 

%  Literally,  Priest  of  the  Priests—  High  Priest, 

'35 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

cohesion,  and  that  they  have  to  make  their  own 
religion  and  philosophy  the  guides  that  they  need. 
Both  have  aided  them  in  their  social  development ; 
both  will  continue  to  support  them  in  their  new, 
modernized  life  in  India  and  abroad;  and  both 
will  enable  them  to  wait  for  the  final  triumph  of  the 
Good  Principle. 

D.  MENANT. 


SIKHISM    AND   THE    SIKHS 


SIKHISM    AND    THE    SIKHS 


SlKHlSM,  the  creed  of  the  brave  and  hardy  race 
that  held  dominion  over  the  plain  country  of  the 
Punjab  during  the  first  fifty  years  of  the  present 
century,  and  disputed  the  sovereignty  of  northern 
India  with  the  English,  well  deserves  the  study 
of  those  interested  in  the  birth  and  development 
of  religions.  Like  some  other  creeds,  it  had  its 
origin  in  a  profound  dissatisfaction  with  the  exist- 
ing order  of  things,  and  a  passionate  endeavor  on 
the  part  of  its  founder  to  break  the  chain  which 
Brahminism  had  fastened  round  the  feet  and 
hands  of  every  Hindu.  Later,  under  the  whole- 
some stimulus  of  persecution,  it  became  a  fierce 
and  inspiring  belief,  which  changed  a  nation  of 
peaceful  peasants  into  an  army  of  disciplined 
warriors,  who,  guided  by  a  leader  of  genius,  were 
the  most  formidable  armed  force  that  native  India 
had  seen  since  the  days  of  Aurung-Zeb  and  Shah 
Jehan.  The  revolt  of  Sikhism  against  Brah- 
minism resembled  that  of  Protestantism  against 
the  Church  of  Rome,  in  that  it  was  not  a  contra- 
diction of  dogma,  but  a  resistance  to  the  intolera- 
ble pretensions  of  the  priestly  class.  The  doctrines 

139 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  Luther  differed  in  but  few  and  unimportant 
particulars  from  those  of  the  orthodox  champions 
of  Catholicism.  The  theological  tangle  known  as 
Brahminism  would  have  included  the  doctrinal 
subtleties  and  puerilities  of  Nanak  without  dif- 
ficulty. It  was  itself  a  compound  of  mysticism 
and  realism,  tolerant  and  all-embracing — theistic, 
polytheistic,  and  pantheistic  at  the  same  time. 
It  allowed  to  the  ignorant  worshipper  a  myriad 
gods,  from  the  ochre-stained  stone  in  the  forest 
to  the  awful  personages  of  the  Hindu  trinity; 
while  to  the  elect,  who  had  risen  beyond  sym- 
bolism to  the  purer  air,  it  provided  conceptions 
of  the  Deity  as  noble  and  exalted  as  those  to  be 
found  in  any  religion  of  East  or  West.  But  no  creed, 
however  lofty  in  conception  or  ethically  worthy,  is 
tolerable  to  free  and  liberal  minds  in  which  the 
power  of  interpretation  and  direction  is  jealously 
guarded,  as  an  hereditary  right,  by  a  corrupt  and 
prejudiced  priesthood.  It  was  against  this  pre- 
tension that  the  reformers  of  the  West  and  the 
East  took  up  arms;  and  it  is  a  strange  coinci- 
dence that  the  teaching  of  both  Luther  and  Nanak 
was  synchronous,  and  that  they  were  born  and 
died  within  a  few  years  of  each  other. 

In  this  paper  all  that  can  be  attempted  is  to  show, 
generally,  the  line  of  doctrine  expounded  by  Nanak 
and  his  eight  successors  in  the  office  of  Guru,  or 
spiritual  leader;  secondly,  to  note  the  important 
changes  introduced  by  Govind  Singh,  the  tenth 
Guru  and  founder  of  the  church  militant  of  Sikh- 

140 


SIKHISM    AND   THE     SIKHS 

ism;  and,  lastly,  to  observe  the  practice  of  the 
Sikhs  of  to-day,  and  the  degree  in  which  they 
have  fallen  away  from  the  teaching  of  both  Nanak 
and  Govind  and  reverted  to  Hindu  ceremonial  and 
modes  of  thought. 

When  Nanak,  who  was  born  in  1469,  began  his 
teaching,  Hinduism  had  long  crystallized  into  the 
sacerdotal  guild  which  we  see  in  India  to-day. 
It  may  even  be  said  that  its  religious  aspect  was 
then  more  lost  than  now  in  a  multitude  of  cere- 
monial observances  and  social  prescriptions ;  for  the 
influence  of  missionary  and  proselyting  creeds,  like 
Christianity  and  Islamism,  has  been  to  draw  out 
what  is  best  in  Hinduism  and  encourage  cultivated 
Hindus  to  reject  the  material  and  grosser  part  of 
their  creed  in  favor  of  its  higher  esoteric  teaching. 
But  then,  as  now,  for  the  uninstructed  mass  of 
the  people,  Brahminism  was  Hinduism — that  is 
to  say,  doctrine  counted  for  little  or  nothing,  and 
the  strict  observance  of  the  rules  of  caste,  with 
the  Brahmin  as  the  top-stone  of  the  social  pyramid, 
wras  everything.  Caste  had  been  invented  by 
Brahmins  for  Brahmins;  a  system  by  which 
Hindu  society  was  divided  and  subdivided  by 
hereditary  and  impregnable  barriers,  the  Brah- 
mins remaining  a  sacred  priesthood,  immeasura- 
bly above  all  others,  directing  the  lives  and  con- 
duct of  all,  and  without  toll  to  whom  none  of  the 
ordinary  functions  of  civil  life  could  be  effectively 
performed.  The  greedy  Brahmin  demanded  his 
fees  at  birth  and  marriage  and  death,  and  to  feed 

141 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

Brahmins  was  a  virtue  far  above  devotion  to 
mercy,  truth,  and  justice.  It  was  against  this  priv- 
ileged hierarchy  that  Nanak  directed  his  attack; 
and,  although  he  did  not  preach  the  abolition  of 
caste  as  was  subsequently  done  by  Govind  Singh, 
his  writings  are  filled  with  acknowledgments  of 
the  brotherhood  and  equality  of  man,  and  he  ad- 
mitted all  classes  as  his  disciples.  Nor  did  his 
gentle  and  quietist  nature  attempt  a  direct  assault 
on  the  Brahmin  class,  other  than  by  the  denuncia- 
tion of  the  idol  worship  on  the  profits  of  which 
they  lived.  He  even  allowed  and  approved  the  use 
of  Brahmins  as  private  and  domestic  priests,  to 
perform  such  ceremonial  as  was  unobjectionable; 
though  he  rejected  their  teachings,  together  with 
the  doctrine  of  Vedas  and  Puranas,  the  Hindu 
sacred  books.  Born  in  the  Punjab,  where  the 
conflict  between  Hinduism  and  Islamism  had  long 
continued,  he  was  doubtless  influenced,  as  had 
been  the  bhagats,  or  pious  teachers,  who  had  pre- 
ceded him,  by  the  central  idea  of  Mohammedanism, 
the  unity  of  God;  and  monotheism  was  the  car- 
dinal truth  of  his  doctrine. 

It  is  necessary  to  study  carefully,  his  gospel, 
known  as  the  Adi  Granth,  to  realize  adequately 
the  purity  and  beauty  of  Nanak's  doctrine.  This 
enormous  volume  is  somewhat  repellent  to  Western 
scholars.  The  only  form  in  which  it  is  accessible 
— for  the  Gurmukhi  in  which  it  is  written  is  ex- 
ceedingly obscure — is  the  translation  of  Dr.  Ernest 
Trumpp,  a  learned  German  professor,  who  was 

142 


SIKHISM    AND    THE    SIKHS 

brought  to  Lahore  at  a  time  when  I  was  chief  secre- 
tar3'  to  the  Punjab  government,  to  undertake  this 
difficult  task,  on  which  he  spent  seven  years'  labor. 
But  his  command  of  English  was  not  equal  to  a 
rendering  of  the  spirit  of  the  original,  and  he  fur- 
ther appears  to  have  considered  the  Granth  as  an 
incoherent  and  shallow  production,  and  its  chief 
value  to  be  linguistic,  as  a  treasury  of  the  mediaeval 
Hindu  dialects.  This  judgment  appears  to  me  to 
be  mistaken.  There  are,  it  is  true,  many  puerilities 
and  vain  repetitions,  from  which  the  books  of  no 
Eastern  religion  are  free ;  but  it  is  scarcely  possible 
to  turn  a  single  page  without  being  struck  by  the 
beauty  and  originality  of  the  images  and  the  en- 
lightened devotion  of  its  language.  No  Catholic 
ascetic  has  ever  been  more  absorbed  in  the  con- 
templation of  the  Deity  than  was  the  prophet 
Nanak  when  giving  utterance  to  his  rhapsodies. 

The  monotheism  of  Nanak  is  often  not  to  be 
distinguished  from  pantheism ;  and,  unless  a  creed 
be  provided  with  a  personal  and  anthropomorphic 
deity,  it  is  always  difficult  to  draw  the  line  be- 
tween the  two.  Sometimes  Nanak  represents  God 
as  a  self-conscious  spirit  protecting  the  creatures 
He  has  made;  an  ever-present  Providence,  wTho 
can  be  approached  through  the  Guru,  the  heaven- 
appointed  teacher,  and  ready  to  bless  and  emanci- 
pate the  soul  which  worships  sincerely  and  hum- 
bly. At  other  times,  man  and  the  universe  and 
all  that  exists  are  but  a  part  of  and  an  emanation 
from  God,  who  produces  all  things  out  of  Him- 

143 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

self  and  to  whom  all  finally  return.  In  the  same 
way,  it  would  seem  that  Nanak  in  no  way  denied 
the  existence  of  the  lower  deities  of  the  Hindu 
mythology;  or  the  poetic  pantheism  on  which  his 
belief  in  the  one  supreme  God  was  based  could 
hardly  exist  without  the  symbolism  which  inspired 
all  nature  with  life,  and  found  a  spiritual  force 
behind  and  within  every  manifestation  of  natural 
energy.  Yet  all  such  deities  he  asserted  to  be 
indifferent  and  unworthy  of  regard,  much  as  the 
early  preachers  of  Christianity  treated  the  gods  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  in  whose  existence  they  believed, 
but  whose  dominion  was  to  be  overthrown  by  Christ. 
Idolatry  he  condemned,  asserting  that  the  service 
pleasing  to  the  Deity  was  that  of  the  heart :  neither 
vain  ceremonies  nor  the  austerities  which  the  Hindu 
ascetics  had  been  wont  to  consider  as  the  key  which 
unlocked  the  highest  and  most  secret  mysteries, 
but  a  pure,  unselfish  life,  a  faith  in  God  revealed 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  appointed  Guru, 
or  spiritual  guide.  Charity  and  good  works  were 
commendable  and  the  worthy  fruits  of  an  unselfish 
life;  but  they  were  not  of  themselves  sufficient  to 
release  the  soul  from  its  bondage  to  sense  and 
illusion,  or  to  save  it  from  transmigration,  the 
ever-present  dread  of  the  Hindu,  or  to  insure  its 
reunion  with  God.  These  results  could  only  be 
attained  by  meditation  on  God  and  through  the 
saving  grace  of  His  name. 

Although  Nanak  claimed  to  be  a  prophet,  he 
did  not  assert  that  he  was  inspired  or  possessed  of 

144 


SIKHISM     AND    THE    SIKHS      - 

miraculous  powers,  though  these  were  freely  as- 
cribed to  him  by  his  disciples,  both  during  his 
lifetime  and  after  his  death.  But  he  magnified 
his  office  of  Guru  into  that  of  an  intermediary 
between  man  and  God,  and  blind  obedience  to  the 
Guru  was  enjoined  as  an  essential  article  of  faith. 
The  Guru's  saving  power  was  such  that  contact 
with  him  brought  salvation  to  the  most  criminal. 
In  short,  the  virtue  of  the  Guru  was  supreme; 
and  although  Nanak  himself  claimed  no  special 
sanctity,  but  spoke  of  himself  as  an  ignorant  and 
sinful  man,  yet  the  Gurus  who  succeeded  him, 
and  who  possessed  more  ambition  and  less  piety, 
were  virtualhr  deified  b}T  their  followers;  and  the 
worship  of  the  Guru  and  the  surrender  to  him  of 
the  wealth,  the  honor,  and  the  life  of  his  followers, 
became  as  grievous  a  burden  to  the  Sikh  com- 
munity as  the  j'oke  of  the  Brahmins  had  been. 

The  doctrine  of  transmigration  of  souls  was  com- 
mon to  Sikhism,  Hinduism,  and  Buddhism — the  be- 
lief in  the  continued  existence  of  the  soul,  through 
countless  changes  into  various  forms  of  animal 
and  human  existences,  until,  by  the  virtue  of  the 
Guru  and  the  saving  power  of  the  name  of  God, 
final  emancipation  was  attained  and  absorption 
into  the  Supreme,  when  individuality  ended.  This 
practical  annihilation,  which  the  loss  of  individual- 
ity signifies  to  the  less  subtle  fancy  of  Europeans, 
was  the  chief  object  of  the  religious  strivings  of 
the  Sikh  or  Hindu,  and  it  was  the  reward  of  virtue 
and  of  faith  in  God.  It  was  thus  from  a  different 
K  145 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

standpoint  that  life  and  death  were  regarded  by 
Eastern  and  Western  thinkers.  To  the  former  life 
is  a  burden  from  which  the  soul  should  seek  release 
in  f  orgetf  ulness  and  darkness ;  to  the  latter,  the  idea 
of  a  happy  immortality,  as  the  reward  for  a  vir- 
tuous earthly  life,  is  the  one  thought  which  per- 
mits life  to  be  borne  with  cheerfulness  and  death 
faced  with  equanimity.  But  the  troubles  and 
enigmas  which  have  confused  and  perplexed  many 
Christian  communities  found  their  exact  coun- 
terpart in  Sikhism.  There  was  the  same  conflict 
between  predestination,  election,  and  free  will. 
The  sacred  name  was  only  communicated  by  the 
Guru  to  him  upon  whose  forehead  had  been  im- 
printed, from  the  beginning,  the  sign  which  desig- 
nated him  as  one  of  the  elect.  Destiny  was  absolute 
and  supreme.  Man  was  represented  as  a  puppet, 
whom  the  Master  made  to  dance  as  it  pleased  Him. 
In  every  breast,  goodness,  passion,  or  darkness 
was  predominant,  and  human  actions  were  neces- 
sarily the  result  of  the  influence  that  swayed  them. 
Illusion  had  been  spread  around  all  earthly  things ; 
man  was  deceived  by  a  power  above  and  without 
him;  and  he  was  irresponsible,  seeing  that  the 
impulse  of  his  conduct  was  beyond  his  control. 
It  was  hopeless  to  attempt  to  reconcile  the  doctrines 
of  predestination  and  free  will,  the  choice  of  good 
or  evil,  and  a  system  of  rewards  and  punishments 
with  the  fixed  decree  of  an  unchanging  destiny; 
and  the  attempt  was  probably  made  in  order  to 
account  for  the  inequalities,  the  sorrow,  and  suf- 

146 


SIKHISM    AND    THE     SIKHS 

fering  of  human  life,  the  perplexity  of  which  had 
lain  at  the  root  of  the  Hindu  doctrine  of  the  trans- 
migration of  souls. 

It  is  not  possible  here  to  discuss  the  dogmas  of 
Sikhism  as  expounded  by  Nanak  in  more  detail. 
He  was  a  true  prophet,  and  accomplished  worthily 
an  exalted  mission.  His  system,  like  all  sj^stems, 
had  many  imperfections;  and  chief  of  them  were 
those  which  equally  belonged  to  Calvinism,  in 
the  substitution  of  one  tyranny  for  another,  and 
the  overshadowing  of  all  human  joy  by  a  predes- 
tined lot  which  no  faith  or  virtue  could  modify. 
But  the  good  far  outweighed  the  evil.  Nanak 
taught  the  wisdom  and  omnipotence  of  one  supreme 
God,  and  the  equality  of  all  men,  of  whatever  race 
or  creed,  in  His  sight;  purity  of  life,  charity,  hu- 
mility, and  temperance.  He  enjoined  kindness 
to  animals,  and  forbade  both  female  infanticide 
and  the  burning  of  widows.  He  condemned 
idolatry  and  asceticism,  and  preached  the  whole- 
some doctrine  that  the  state  of  the  worker  and 
householder  was  the  most  honorable  condition, 
and  that,  to  find  God  and  serve  Him,  it  was  not 
necessaty  to  practise  austerities  or  retire  from 
active  life.  His  object,  in  which  he  largely  suc- 
ceeded, was  to  purge  Hinduism  of  the  dross  which 
had  gathered  about  it;  to  lift  it  from  the  slough 
of  polytheism  and  vain  ceremonial  in  which  it  was 
choked,  and  to  bring  it  back  to  the  firm  ground 
and  the  pure  air  of  the  Vedas.  His  mission,  at 
the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  was  the  same 

147 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

as  that  of  Raja  Lai  Mohan  Roy  and  Keshab  Chan- 
clar  Sen  in  the  nineteenth ;  but  his  originality  was 
the  greater,  for  his  impulse  was  not,  like  theirs, 
the  necessary  result  of  contact  with  European 
culture  and  modes  of  thought,  which  are  largely 
and  beneficially  affecting  Hinduism.  The  mis- 
sionary teaching  of  Christianity  affects  educated 
Hindus  little  if  at  all ;  but  the  science  and  literature 
of  the  West  are  playing  an  important  part  in  purify- 
ing Hinduism  of  its  materialism,  and  bringing  it 
back  to  its  ancient  monotheism,  or  to  that  state 
of  suspension  of  judgment  which  is  somewhat  in- 
adequately designated  agnosticism. 

The  successors  of  Nanak,  who  held  the  Guruship 
from  1538  to  1675  A.D.,  were  of  far  inferior  capacity 
and  disinterestedness,  and  do  not  require  much 
mention.  It  was  the  fourth  Guru,  Ram  Das,  who 
founded  the  famous  city  of  Amritsar,  and  built  the 
Golden  Temple  in  the  middle  of  the  Tank  of  Nectar, 
thus  giving  to  the  Sikh  people  a  centre  for  wor- 
ship; while  Arjan,  the  fifth  Guru,  systematized 
the  theocracy,  collected  taxes,  and  assumed  some- 
thing of  the  state  of  a  secular  ruler.  His  death 
was  due  to  the  tyranny  of  the  Mohammedan 
government,  which  then,  from  its  capital  of  Delhi, 
ruled  the  greater  part  of  the  Indian  peninsula; 
and  from  that  date,  1606  A.D.,  commenced  an 
obstinate  quarrel  between  Sikhs  and  Moham- 
medans, which  continued  until,  in  the  general 
crush  of  the  Mogul  Empire,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century,  the  former  seized  supreme 

148 


SIKHISM     AND    THE     SIKHS 

power  in  the  Punjab.  Nor  is  the  hostility  be- 
tween them  at  an  end  at  the  present  day,  and  the 
Sikh  warriors,  in  1857,  followed  the  call  of  the 
English  to  Delhi  and  Lucknow,  to  avenge  their 
slaughtered  prophets  and  co-religionists  of  days 
long  past.  The  stern  measures  of  repression 
which  the  Moslem  governors  employed  against 
the  Sikhs  were  in  some  measure  justified  by  the 
turbulent  character  of  these  sectaries  who  lived  by 
plunder  and  levied  contributions  upon  all  who 
were  not  of  their  persuasion.  But  the  fierceness 
of  their  hatred  of  Mohammedanism  and  its  steady 
flame  were  due  to  the  religious  bigotry  of  the  Em- 
peror Aurung-Zeb,  who  considered  it  a  sacred 
duty  to  destroy  all  who  would  not  accept  Islam, 
and  whose  savage  fanaticism  hastened  the  decay 
of  the  Mogul  power.  No  creed  endures  the  foun- 
dation-stones of  which  have  not  been  cemented 
with  blood;  and  the  persecutions  of  Aurung-Zeb 
only  united  the  Sikhs  more  closely  in  resistance 
to  his  rule,  until  at  last  a  man  arose  among  them 
who  possessed  spiritual  authority  and  organizing 
power,  and  who  changed  the  whole  complexion 
of  the  Sikh  creed.  This  was  Govind  Singh,  the 
tenth  and  last  Guru,  who,  on  the  martyrdom  of 
his  father,  became  leader  of  the  sect  till  his  death 
in  1708.  The  changes  introduced  by  Govind, 
though  fundamental,  were  not  doctrinal.  He 
was,  indeed,  no  quietist  like  Nanak,  but  a  man  of 
action,  animated  by  the  passion  of  revenge.  The 
monotheistic  theory  he  did  not  dispute;  but  his 

149 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

patron  saint,  so  to  speak,  was  the  fierce  goddess 
Durga,  to  whom  he  is  said  to  have  offered  a  human 
sacrifice  to  inaugurate  his  mission.  He  formed 
the  Sikhs  into  a  military  brotherhood  under  the 
name  of  the  Khalsa.  He  abolished  caste  altogether, 
which  Nanak  had  never  ventured  to  do;  and,  al- 
though this  offended  many  of  the  better  classes, 
it  was  received  with  enthusiasm  by  the  lower  orders, 
who  flocked  to  his  standard.  He  instituted  an 
initiatory  rite  of  baptism,  known  as  the  pahul, 
a  feast  of  communion,  and  a  distinctive  dress  to 
distinguish  his  disciples  from  other  Hindus.  Sikhs 
were  forbidden  to  cut  their  hair  or  beard,  to  gamble, 
or  to  smoke  tobacco;  but  intoxicating  liquors  were 
allowed,  and  the  richer  classes  have  always  been 
hard  drinkers,  though  the  peasants  are  temperate 
enough.  No  regard  was  to  be  paid  to  Vedas, 
Shastras,  or  the  Koran,  neither  to  Hindu  priests  or 
Mohammedan  mullahs;  visits  to  temples  and 
shrines  and  the  observance  of  Hindu  ceremonies 
at  birth,  marriage,  and  death  were  alike  forbidden. 
The  mild  law  of  Nanak  was  transformed  into  a 
gospel  of  intolerance  and  hate,  directed  not  only 
against  his  bitter  enemies,  the  Mohammedans, 
but  against  the  members  of  all  alien  creeds  and 
non-conforming  Sikh  sects,  of  which  several  had 
arisen.  But  the  Mohammedans  were  the  chief 
objects  of  Sikh  hatred.  To  salute  one  of  the  ac- 
cursed race  was  a  crime  worthy  of  hell,  and  the 
lifelong  duty  of  the  Sikh  was  to  slay  Mohamme- 
dans and  wage  constant  war  upon  them.  The 

150 


SIKHISM    AND    THE     SIKHS 

results  of  this  teaching  and  practice  turned  the 
Punjab,  for  a  hundred  years,  into  an  arena  of 
bloodshed.  Mohammedan  conquerors  from  cen- 
tral Asia  and  Afghanistan  swooped  down  upon 
the  dying  Mogul  Empire,  and  occupied  the  north- 
ern capital,  Lahore,  and  established  viceroys  and 
governors.  But,  with  varying  fortunes,  the  con- 
flict with  the  Sikhs  always  continued,  until  it  wras 
finally  decided  by  the  gradual  conquest  of  the 
Punjab  by  Maharaja  Runjit  Singh. 

Of  all  the  men  who  carved  principalities  out  of 
the  inheritance  of  the  emperors  of  Delhi,  the  most 
remarkable  was  Runjit  Singh.  He  possessed  the 
genius  both  of  war  and  of  government.  The 
son  of  the  chief  of  one  of  the  smaller  Sikh  military 
confederacies,  he  attacked  and  overcame  all  rivals 
and  competitors  of  his  own  faith,  and  then  turned 
his  sword  against  the  Mohammedans,  annexing 
in  turn  the  Afghan  provinces  of  Multan,  Kashmir, 
Peshawur,  and  the  Derajat,  which  is  the  name 
of  the  long  strip  of  plain  country  that  lies  between 
the  Indus  and  the  mountains  on  the  northwestern 
frontier  *of  Hindostan.  In  the  Afghans  he  met 
an  enemy  equal  to  the  Sikhs  in  bravery  and  fanat- 
icism ;  the  contest  was  for  many  years  undecided, 
and  cost  the  Maharaja  heavily,  both  in  men  and 
treasure.  But  the  discipline  and  arms  of  the 
Sikhs  gave  Runjit  Singh  the  final  advantage; 
and,  at  his  death  in  1839,  he  was  the  undisputed 
ruler  of  the  Punjab  and  Kashmir. 

Those  who  care  to  know  in  more  detail  my  es- 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

timate  of  Runjit  Singh,  his  character,  his  mode 
of  government,  his  counsellors,  his  army,  and 
his  conquests,  may  find  it  in  his  biography,  which 
I  wrote  in  1892  for  the  University  of  Oxford.  There 
is  only  space  here  to  note  the  influence  of  his  reign 
on  the  religious  side  of  Sikhism.  This  was  partly 
good  and  partly  evil.  The  fierce  intolerance  of 
Govind  Singh  was  abandoned  by  the  Maharaja 
for  an  absolute  indifference  to  religion,  further 
than  was  necessary  to  retain  the  allegiance  of  the 
Sikhs  and  secure  the  personal  adherence  of  their 
religious  guides,  Babas  and  Bhais,  whom  he 
largely  subsidized  and  treated  with  every  outward 
mark  of  respect.  But  in  his  eyes  the  creed  of  his 
servants  mattered  nothing,  so  long  as  they  served 
him  well.  Several  of  his  most  trusted  and  capable 
ministers  were  Mohammedans,  and  many  were 
Brahmins,  whose  employment  Govind  Singh 
had  distinctly  forbidden.  The  Sikhs,  chiefs  and 
people,  were  plain  soldiers,  utterly  illiterate;  and 
no  place  could  be  found  for  them  in  a  system  of 
government  so  complicated  as  that  of  the  Maharaja, 
where  Brahmins  and  Mohammedans  of  education, 
experienced  through  long  generations  in  all  the 
arts  of  government,  were  necessary  to  the  main- 
tenance of  his  position.  Even  in  the  army,  the 
same  spirit  of  tolerance  was  found.  Diwan  Mok- 
ham  Chand,  a  Khattri  Hindu,  was  probably  his 
best  general ;  and  Irish,  Italian,  and  French  officers 
trained  and  led  important  divisions  of  his  forces. 
This  tolerance  in  matters  of  religious  belief 
152 


SIKHISM    AND    THE     SIKHS 

removed  the  darkest  blot  from  the  ferocious  creed 
of  Govind,  and  allowed  the  Sikhs  to  enter  the 
community  of  reasonable  and  civilized  men;  for, 
during  the  eighteenth  century,  their  hand  was 
against  every  man,  and  plunder  and  slaughter 
were  the  law  of  their  being.  This  reform,  selfish 
though  it  was  in  its  origin,  so  modified  and  elevated 
the  Sikh  polity  and  character  that  its  advantage 
far  outweighed  the  injury  to  public  decency  and 
morality  which  may  have  resulted  from  the  violent 
and  treacherous  character  of  the  monarch  or  the 
drunkenness  and  profligacy  of  his  life.  Morality 
is  conventional,  and  conduct  must  be  judged  by 
the  standard  of  the  age  and  the  environment  of 
the  individual.  Maharaja  Runjit  Singh,  in  spite 
of  his  faults,  was  a  really  great  monarch,  and, 
like  Peter  the  Great  of  Russia,  who  was  far  more 
coarse  and  cruel,  he  created  a  state  and  a  nation. 
The  ignorant  and  brutal  Sikh  peasants  became, 
by  the  inspiration  of  his  genius,  the  most  formi- 
dable armed  force  that  India  had  seen  during  the 
nineteenth  century.  Every  adult  male  was  a 
soldier;  and,  if  the  religious  fervor  was  not  so  keen 
as  in  the  days  of  Govind  Singh,  a  strong  national 
spirit,  almost  unknown  in  India  before,  had  suc- 
ceeded and  supplemented  it.  Had  the  great 
Maharaja  lived  in  other  days,  the  warlike  Sikhs, 
with  such  a  leader  and  inspired  by  so  high  a  spirit, 
might  well  have  founded  an  empire  co-extensive 
with  that  of  the  Moguls.  But  the  time  was  in- 
auspicious ;  the  Maharaja  died  prematurely,  ex- 

153 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

ha usted  by  excesses,  and  the  kingdom  which  he 
had  so  laboriously  built  up  collapsed. 

It  was  but  a  short  time  after  his  death,  in  1839, 
that  the  folly  and  weakness  of  his  successors 
brought  about  a  collision  with  the  British  power, 
which,  in  a  hundred  years,  with  the  irresistible 
force  and  sureness  of  a  rising  tide,  had  spread 
over  Hindostan  from  Calcutta  to  the  river  Sutlej, 
and  in  whose  advance  the  Maharaja  had  clearly 
foreseen  and  predicted  the  overthrow  of  the  Sikh 
monarchy.  During  his  lifetime  he  had  anxiously 
and  consistently  maintained  friendship  with  Eng- 
land, and  though  at  times  his  ambitious  schemes 
led  to  friction  and  complaint,  yet  the  loyal  deter- 
mination of  the  two  governments  to  preserve  peace 
was  effectual.  But  at  his  death  the  powerful 
army  he  had  perfected,  trained,  and  placed  under 
the  command  of  French  and  Italian  generals  of 
repute,  restrained  no  longer  b}^  fear  and  loyalty, 
broke  into  mutiny,  seized  the  supreme  power  in 
the  state,  and  at  last  crossed  the  frontier  and  de- 
clared war  against  the  British  government.  The 
campaign  which  followed  was  exceptionally  severe 
and  bloody.  Never  before  in  India  had  the  Eng- 
lish met  an  enemy  so  formidable — a  disciplined 
army  with  weapons  equal  to  their  own,  and  an 
artillery  more  numerous  and  powerful.  After  a 
series  of  hotly  contested  battles,  in  which  more 
than  once  victory  was  perilously  near  defeat,  the 
English  entered  Lahore  in  triumph,  and  com- 
menced the  experiment,  always  doubtful  and 

154 


SIKHISM    AND    THE    SIKHS 

dangerous  in  the  East,  of  a  puppet  monarch  and  a 
necessarily  ineffective  control.  This  sure  recipe 
for  disaffection  and  intrigue  brought  about  a  fresh 
revolt  of  the  Sikh  army,  which  had  no  desire  to 
beat  its  swords  into  ploughshares  before  it  had 
made  another  trial  of  strength  with  the  English. 
The  ensuing  campaign,  as  severe  as,  but  briefer 
than,  the  first,  was  decisive,  and  the  whole  of  the 
Punjab  was  annexed  to  the  British  dominions  in 
1849.  The  Sikhs,  like  gallant  soldiers,  accepted 
the  inevitable  without  bitterness.  Their  national 
sentiment  was  not  outraged  by  the  result  of  a 
contest  in  which  they  had  honorably  striven,  on 
almost  equal  terms,  with  the  power  which  had  suc- 
cessively overthrown  all  the  great  military  organ- 
izations of  Hindostan,  and  which  was  careful  to 
allow  them  as  free  and  full  expression  of  Sikh 
teaching  and  practice  as  the  Maharaja  himself; 
which  willingl}7  enrolled  their  disbanded  soldiers 
in  its  own  armies,  and  renewed  and  confirmed 
the  endowments  of  their  beloved  religion.  From 
that  day  to  this  the  Sikhs  have  shown  themselves 
the  most  loyal  and  devoted  subjects  of  the  Queen. 
When  the  Bengal  army,  in  1857,  was  driven  into 
mutiny  by  the  crass  stupiditj'  and  criminal  care- 
lessness of  the  military  authorities,  the  Sikh  ma- 
harajas,  chiefs,  and  people  sprang  again  to  arms, 
and  fought  with  the  utmost  gallantry  by  the  side 
of  the  British,  whom  they  had  learned  to  respect. 

Fifty  years  have  passed  since  the  annexation  of 
the  Punjab,   and  it  will  be  interesting  to  know 

155 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

what  kind  of  men  are  the  Sikhs  of  to-day;  how 
far  civilization  and  education  and  orderly  govern- 
ment have  affected  or  modified  their  characteristics, 
and  how  the  later  phase  of  their  religion,  as  taught 
by  Govind  Singh,  has  fared  in  the  uncongenial  at- 
mosphere of  peace.  I  have  long  lived  among  the 
Sikhs,  and  was  chief  magistrate  of  their  principal 
districts  of  Lahore  and  Amritsar;  and  during 
several  years  I  was  officially  employed  in  writing 
the  histories  of  the  independent  chiefs  and  nobles 
of  the  Punjab.  Indeed,  at  one  time,  there  was 
scarcely  a  single  Sikh  of  position  with  whom  I 
was  not  personally  acquainted.  My  experience 
is  that  no  one  can  live  in  intimate  relations  with 
the  Sikh  people,  chiefs  or  peasants,  with  any  other 
feeling  than  confidence,  respect,  and  affection. 
They  are  a  singularly  sincere,  simple,  and  warm- 
hearted race,  susceptible  to  kindness  and  giving 
a  most  loyal  service  to  those  whom  they  trust. 
This  description  applies  not  to  Sikhs  alone,  but 
to  the  great  agricultural  tribe  of  Jats,  from  which 
the  Sikhs  were  mostly  drawn,  and  in  which  they 
are  often  re-absorbed.  The  Jats  are  the  most 
important  people  in  the  Punjab,  and  are  widely 
spread  from  Delhi  to  the  Indus.  Nearly  connected 
with  the  Rajputs  in  origin,  they  have  many  char- 
acteristics which  separate  them  from  that  noble 
stock,  for  they  are  almost  universally  employed  in 
agriculture,  which  the  Rajputs,  as  a  rule,  dislike 
or  despise.  But  the  Jats  are  the  backbone  of  the 
revenue-paying  population,  peaceful,  when  not  ex- 

156 


SIKHISM    AND    THE    SIKHS 

cited  by  fanaticism  or  oppression,  self-restrained, 
sober,  industrious,  and  independent.  Their  love  of 
freedom  and  independence  is  their  most  striking 
characteristic,  giving  them  an  open  and  manly 
frankness  which  invites  the  sympatlry  of  English- 
men, with  whom  they  have  so  much  in  common. 

The  value  of  the  Sikhs  as  soldiers  has  an  im- 
portant bearing  on  the  future  of  the  British  Em- 
pire in  the  East,  not  in  India  alone,  but  in  all  other 
regions  in  which  native  troops  can  be  profitabty 
empkn^ed;  and  it  is  an  interesting  question  to 
determine  how  far  the  modern  conditions  of  the 
Punjab  affect  the  militar3T  qualities  of  the  Sikhs 
and  the  adherence  of  new  disciples  to  the  Sikh 
creed.  For  it  must  be  remembered  that  Sikhism 
is  a  matter  of  profession  and  election,  not  of  he- 
reditary necessity,  like  the  caste  system  of  Brah- 
ininism.  The  baptism  of  initiation  is  not  ordi- 
narily administered  to  the  sons  of  a  Sikh  until  they 
are  adult,  never  before  the  age  of  seven  3'ears,  while 
to  women,  except  in  rare  cases,  it  is  not  given  at 
all.  It  will  be  obvious  that  there  no  longer  exist 
the  same  strong  impulse  and  attraction  to  Sikh- 
ism  as  in  the  time  of  Govind  Singh,  or  still  more 
during  the  reign  of  Runjit  Singh,  when  evety 
Sikh  was  a  favored  member  of  a  dominant  class. 
The  change  of  tendency  was  ver3r  marked  in  the 
first  census  taken  in  the  Punjab  after  annexation, 
when  the  number  of  recorded  Sikhs  was  small; 
though  too  great  stress  should  not  be  laid  on  statis- 
tics at  such  a  time,  when  concealment  of  creed  may 

157 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

have  been  due  to  doubt  as  to  the  treatment  the 
Sikhs  would  receive  from  their  new  rulers.  When 
it  was  found  that  the  British  bore  no  animosity  tow- 
ards them,  and  that,  on  the  contrary,  they  were 
anxious  to  utilize  so  admirable  a  fighting  race, 
the  numbers  who  presented  themselves  for  initi- 
ation rapidly  increased;  and,  in  the  five  districts 
where  Sikhs  most  abound,  the  numbers  recorded 
in  1868  and  1881  were  three  times  as  great  as  in  the 
first  census.  Other  causes  assisted  to  stimulate 
the  religious  impulse.  The  Indian  mutiny,  during 
which  all  Sikh  recruits  were  welcomed  to  the  British 
army,  gave  an  impetus  to  the  creed,  and  the  Pax 
Britannica  which  has  been  observed  for  so  many 
years  within  the  borders  of  Hindostan  has  not  pre- 
vented the  Sikhs  from  enjoying  plenty  of  fight- 
ing in  other  parts  of  the  world.  In  Afghanistan 
and  on  the  northwest  frontier,  in  China  and  the 
Soudan,  the  Sikhs  have  always  been  in  the  van 
and  have  covered  themselves  with  glory;  while 
in  Burma,  Singapore,  and  Hong-Kong  they  form 
an  admirable  body  of  military  police.  Among 
the  fighting  races  of  the  world,  the  Sikhs  hold  a 
very  high  place,  nor  do  I  believe  that  for  the  highest 
qualities  of  soldiers  there  are  any  their  superiors. 
Led  by  British  officers,  I  believe  Sikhs  to  be  far 
better  troops,  steadier,  and  more  intelligent  than 
the  majority  of  those  found  in  European  armies. 
The  Gurkhas  are  equally  good,  but  of  these  the 
number  of  recruits  is  limited.  The  value  of  the 
Sikh  is  increased  by  his  freedom  from  caste  prej- 

158 


SIKHISM    AND    THE    SIKHS 

udice,  which  permits  his  employment  be37ond  the 
sea  or  in  conditions  where  the  Brahmin,  the  Rajput, 
or  the  ordinary  Hindu  would  find  it  impossible 
to  live  without  incurring  social  ostracism.  The 
Sikh  is  as  gallant  and  impetuous  in  attack  as  he 
is  imperturbable  in  defence  or  reverse.  Exceed- 
ingly temperate  and  enduring,  the  severest  hard- 
ships are  borne  cheerfully  and  without  complaint, 
and  he  is  always  ready  to  risk  or  sacrifice  his  life, 
without  a  thought,  when  led  by  officers  who  are 
worthy  of  him.  No  praise  which  can  be  given  to 
this  incomparable  soldier  is  above  his  deserts.  At 
the  same  time,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the 
Sikhs  collectively  are  such  a  fighting  race  as  in 
the  da}Ts  of  the  great  Maharaja.  Soon  after  an- 
nexation, the  Punjab  was  disarmed  in  the  interests 
of  public  order,  and  the  men  who  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  redress  their  own  wrongs  with  the  sword 
which  hung  ever  at  their  side  were  compelled  to 
carry  their  complaints  to  the  courts  of  law,  and 
to  find  in  the  discipline  of  the  regular  army  the 
safety-valve  for  their  martial  enthusiasm.  So  it 
happened  that  a  very  large  number  of  the  Sikhs, 
peasants  and  land-holders,  gave  up  their  fighting 
habits,  and  became  again  peaceful  agriculturists, 
one  or  two  members  of  the  family  taking  the  pahul 
and  joining  the  army,  with  the  warlike  affix  of 
Singh  to  their  name,  the  others  remaining  Hindus 
and  not  to  be  distinguished  by  dress  or  mode  of 
life  from  their  Jat  kinsmen,  among  whom  they 
lived.  But  the  Sikh  fighting  quality  has  in  no 

159 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

way  deteriorated,  although  the  available  quantity 
has  become  less. 

The  religious  ardor  of  the  Sikhs,  under  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  regular  army  and  the  orderly  progress 
of  civil  life,  has  become  an  almost  burdensome 
encumbrance  and  in  no  way  enhances  their  value 
as  soldiers.  Its  decline  is  only  to  be  regretted 
in  that  it  diminishes  the  number  of  recruits  to  the 
military  caste,  for  the  Hindu  Jat  peasant,  al- 
though equally  stanch  with  the  Sikh,  has  not 
the  same  inclination  to  warlike  pursuits  and  pre- 
fers to  cultivate  his  ancestral  fields.  Day  by  day, 
the  new  faith  of  Govind  loses  its  hold  over  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  old  creed  of  Hinduism,  with  its  Brah- 
minical  sacerdotalism  and  its  worship  of  strange 
gods,  is  taking  its  place.  The  Sikh  still,  from 
time  to  time,  visits  the  temple  to  listen  to  the  read- 
ing of  the  Granth;  he  abstains  from  tobacco  and 
leaves  his  hair  and  beard  unshorn,  while  his  ob- 
servance of  caste  restrictions  is  lax,  and  he  is  con- 
tent to  take  food  from  even  the  hands  of  a  Moham- 
medan. But  the  Brahmin  has  now  again  be- 
come an  object  of  reverence  and  is  called  to 
officiate  at  births  and  marriages;  the  men,  and 
especially  the  women,  always  most  superstitious 
and  most  ready  to  accept  priestly  control,  visit  the 
idol  temples  and  local  shrines;  and,  in  those  dis- 
tricts of  the  Punjab  most  distant  from  the  religious 
centre  there  is  little  to  distinguish  the  Sikh  of  to- 
day from  the  ordinary  Hindu.  This  laxity  in 
faith  gave  rise,  some  thirty  years  ago,  to  a  move- 

160 


SIKHISM    AND    THE    SIKHS 

raent  which  caused  some  anxiet}"  to  the  govern- 
ment, when  a  carpenter,  named  Ram  Singh,  found- 
ed a  new  sect,  the  Kukas,  and  attempted  to  draw 
his  co-religionists  back  into  the  path  of  orthodoxy. 
He  preached  Govind  Singh  as  the  only  true  Guru, 
and  insisted  upon  the  abolition  of  caste,  abstinence 
from  animal  food,  tobacco,  and  intoxicating  liquors, 
free  intermarriage  and  the  neglect  of  Hindu  priests 
and  temples  with  all  their  idolatrous  symbolism. 
So  long  as  the  Kuka  teaching  only  aimed  at  re- 
ligious reform,  the  government  did  not  interfere, 
although  respectable  citizens  were  scandalized  at 
the  debauchery  which  prevailed  in  the  Kuka  mixed 
assemblies.  But  when,  like  Govind  Singh,  they 
changed  religion  into  a  political  propaganda, 
proclaimed  the  restoration  of  the  Khalsa  and  the 
overthrow  of  the  British  government,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  insurrection  and  murder,  the  sect  was 
suppressed  with  a  heavy  hand;  the  leaders,  ar- 
rested in  one  night  throughout  the  province,  were 
deported  to  Burma,  Aden,  and  the  Andamans, 
and  the  Kuka  revival,  after  a  short  time,  was  heard 
of  no  more.  But,  although  religious  fanaticism 
always  contains  the  germs  of  possible  danger,  it  is 
a  matter  of  regret  that  Sikhism,  which,  as  taught 
by  its  first  prophet  Nanak,  was  so  full  of  promise, 
and  was  inspired  by  a  pure  morality  and  a  high 
conception  of  the  Deity,  should  fall  back  again  into 
the  idolatrous  materialism  from  which  for  a  time  he 
had  raised  it.  But  the  recuperative  and  absorbing 
power  of  Brahminism  is  very  great.  History 
L  161 


GREAT  RELIGIO.NS  OF  THE  WORLD 

records  how  it  overthrew  and  expelled  the  creed  of 
Buddhism  from  Hindostan,  and  it  seems  about  to 
repeat  the  process  with  Sikhism. 

For  the  British  government  of  India  it  is  desirable, 
so  far  as  may  be  practicable,  to  stimulate  and 
encourage  the  life  and  growth  of  a  martial  spirit 
in  the  fighting  races  of  India.  They  form  an  in- 
valuable reserve  of  military  power,  wrhich  may  be 
counted  upon  with  confidence  so  long  as  the  ad- 
ministration is  popular  and  commends  itself  to  the 
conscience  of  the  people  as  just  and  beneficent. 
But  it  is  difficult  to  take  any  steps  which  might 
seem  to  favor  a  sentiment  so  closely  interwoven 
with  religious  principle  and  practice,  when  the 
declared  basis  of  British  policy  is  a  strict  relig- 
ious neutrality.  This  has  not,  it  is  true,  prevent- 
ed the  continuance  of  ancient  endowments  to  the 
temples  and  shrines  of  the  Sikh,  Hindu,  and  Mo- 
hammedan religions;  but  the  tendency  has  been 
to  reduce  and  terminate  these  wherever  possible, 
and  to  withdraw  from  the  state  the  management 
of  all  religious  institutions.  The  endowments  of 
the  Golden  Temple  at  Amritsar  are  now  but  scanty, 
and  it  has  lost  in  great  part  the  rich  offerings 
which  were  made  freely  by  rajas  and  maharajas 
when  they  paid  their  annual  visits  to  the  shrine 
around  which  their  bungas,  or  hostels,  still  stand. 
The  policy  of  the  old  East  India  Company  was 
more  sympathetic  and  encouraged  the  endow- 
ment of  the  several  religions  of  India — a  practice 
to  be  logically  defended  on  the  ground  that  the 

162 


SIKHISM    AND    THE    SIKHS 

people  who  paid  the  taxes  and  furnished  the  state 
revenue  should  have  a  portion  thereof  devoted  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  public  worship  of  the  national 
creeds,  such  as  Brahminism,  Mohammedanism,  and 
Sikhism.  But,  as  the  tendency  of  higher  statesman- 
ship grows  more  agnostic,  the  less  does  it  seem  able 
or  disposed  to  oppose  the  pressure  of  an  aggressive 
proselytizing  spirit,  which  seems  to  grow  in  fervor 
with  the  absence  of  resistance;  which  has  caused 
serious  evil  in  China,  which  threatens  trouble  in  the 
Soudan,  and  which  will  be  the  cause  of  future  dan- 
ger throughout  the  Eastern  world.  There  can  be 
little  doubt  that  a  purely  secular  education  is,  for 
the  great  mass  of  the  people,  inconsistent  with  the 
highest  realization  of  the  duties  of  citizenship,  and 
that  ethical  teaching  cannot  be  altogether  divorced 
from  religious  sanctions.  All  the  scientific  and 
philosophical  religions  have  a  satisfactory  ethical 
basis,  and  a  government  like  that  of  India,  which 
professes  to  evenly  hold  the  balance  between  com- 
peting creeds,  and  which  has  solemnly  promised 
to  abstain  from  pressing  Christianity  upon  its  Ind- 
ian subjects,  should  endeavor,  by  the  liberal,  judi- 
cious, and  impartial  endowment  of  all  religions 
accepted  by  large  sections  of  the  community,  to 
conciliate  the  priestly  class,  which  now  stands 
aloof,  unfriendly  or  hostile,  and  thus  promote  not 
only  loyalty  to  the  ruling  power,  but  the  growth 
of  a  higher  morality  which  finds  no  sufficient  sus- 
tenance in  the  dry  and  barren  teaching  of  Western 
literature  and  science.  LEPEL  GRIFFIN. 

163 


POSITIVISM:    ITS    POSITION, 
AIMS,    AND    IDEALS 


POSITIVISM:    ITS    POSITION, 
AIMS,    AND    IDEALS 


POSITIVISM  is  at  once  a  philosophy,  a  polity, 
and  a  religion — all  three  harmonized  by  the  idea 
of  a  supreme  humanity,  all  three  concentrated  on 
the  good  and  progress  of  humanity.  This  com- 
bination of  man's  whole  thought,  general  ac- 
tivity, and  profound  feeling  in  one  dominant  syn- 
thesis is  the  strength  of  Positivism,  and  at  the 
same  time  an  impediment  to  its  rapid  growth. 
The  very  nature  of  the  Positivist  scheme  excludes 
the  idea  of  wholesale  conversion  to  its  system, 
or  of  any  sudden  increase  of  its  adherents.  No 
philosophy  before,  no  polity,  no  religion  was  ever 
so  weighted  and  conditioned.  Each  stood  alone 
on  its  special  merit.  Positivism  only  has  sought 
to  blend  into  coherent  unity  the  three  great  forces 
of  human  life. 

In  the  whole  history  of  the  human  mind,  no 
philosophy  ever  came  bound  up  with  a  complete 
scheme  of  social  organization,  and  also  with  a 
complete  scheme  of  religious  observance.  Again, 
the  history  of  religion  presents  no  instance  of  a 

167 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

faith  which  was  bound  up  with  a  vast  scientific 
education,  and  also  with  a  set  of  social  institu- 
tions and  political  principles.  Hitherto,  all  philoso- 
phies have  been  content  to  address  man's  reason 
and  to  deal  with  his  knowledge,  leaving  politics, 
morality,  industry,  war,  and  worship  open  ques- 
tions for  other  powers  to  decide.  So,  too,  every 
religion  has  appealed  directly  to  the  emotions  or 
the  imagination,  but  has  stood  sublimely  above 
terrestrial  things  and  the  passing  cares  of  men. 
A  mere  philosophical  idea,  like  evolution,  can 
sweep  across  the  trained  world  in  a  generation, 
and  is  accepted  by  the  masses  when  men  of  learn- 
ing are  agreed.  A  practical  movement,  such 
as  reform,  self-government,  socialism,  or  empire, 
catches  hold  of  thousands  by  offering  immediate 
material  profit.  Men  of  any  creed,  of  any  opinion, 
can  join  in  the  definite  point.  This  has  given 
vogue  to  so  many  systems  of  thought,  so  many 
political  nostrums,  such  a  variety  of  religious  re- 
vivals. It  has  also  been  the  cause  of  their  ulti- 
mate failure,  however  great  their  temporary  suc- 
cess. They  have  been  one-sided,  partial,  mutually 
destructive.  A  religion  which  ignores  science 
finds  itself  at  last  undermined  and  discredited  by 
facts.  A  polity  which  has  no  root  in  history  and 
in  the  science  of  human  nature  ends  in  confusion, 
like  the  Social  Contract  or  the  Rights  of  Man. 
And  a  philosophy  which  is  too  lofty  to  teach  men 
how  to  live,  or  what  to  worship,  is  flung  aside  by 
the  passions,  emotions,  interests  of  busv  men. 

168 


POSITIVISM 

Positivism  insists  that  the  cause  of  all  these 
failures  has  been  the  attempt  to  treat  human  nature 
in  sections  and  by  special  movements,  whereas 
human  nature  is  an  organic  whole  and  can  only 
be  treated  as  an  organism  of  infinite  cohesion. 
Positivism  is  the  first  attempt  to  appeal  to  human 
nature  synthetically — that  is,  to  regard  man  as 
equally  a  logical  being,  a  practical  being,  and  a 
religious  being,  so  that  his  thought,  his  energy, 
his  devotion  may  all  coincide  in  the  same  object. 
The  Christian  preacher  may  c^  aloud  that  this 
object  is  God  and  salvation.  But  when  he  is 
asked  to  explain  the  relation  of  salvation  to  conic 
sections  or  to  home  rule,  his  answers  are  vague. 
The  agnostic  philosopher,  again,  assures  us  that 
this  centre  of  thought  is  evolution;  but  how  the 
devout  soul  is  to  worship  evolution,  or  how  the 
workman  is  to  better  his  lot  by  evolution,  are 
problems  which  the  agnostic  philosopher  finds 
troublesome  and  idle.  The  radical  reformer  in- 
sists on  a  brand-new  set  of  institutions,  and  trusts 
that  men's  beliefs,  habits,  desires,  yearnings,  and 
religions  will  soon  settle  themselves.  But  this 
is  the  last  thing  they  ever  do.  Hitherto  all  philoso- 
phies, all  polities,  all  religions  have  sought  to  treat 
human  nature  as  a  quack  who  should  treat  a  sick 
man  on  the  assumption  that  he  had  no  brain,  or 
that  his  nerves  were  of  steel,  or  that  his  stomach 
was  to  be  ignored.  They  have  had  successes,  as 
nostrums  do  have.  The  Positive  synthesis,  for 
the  first  time,  provides  the  harmony  for  thought, 

169 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

activity,  and  feeling.  But,  since  almost  the  whole 
of  our  real  knowledge  is  limited  to  this  planet,  and 
certainly  the  whole  of  what  we  can  do  is  so  limited, 
and  since  our  best  aspirations  and  ideals  are  human 
(or,  at  least,  anthropomorphic),  it  follows  that  any 
true  synthesis  of  human  nature  as  a  whole  must 
centre  in  humanity.  That  is  the  key  to  the  power 
of  Positivism,  and  also  to  its  very  gradual  ad- 
vance. 

That  which  is  nothing  unless  it  be  comprehen- 
sive, systematic,  synthetic,  naturally  finds  arrayed 
against  it  the  popular  currents  of  the  hour.  There 
never  was  an  age  so  deeply  intoxicated  with  special- 
ism in  all  its  forms  as  our  own,  so  loftily  abhorrent 
of  anything  systematic,  so  alien  to  synthesis — that 
is,  organic  co-ordination  of  related  factors.  Every- 
thing nowadays  is  treated  in  infinitesimal  sub- 
divisions. Each  biologist  sticks  to  his  own  mi- 
crobe ;  each  historian  to  his  own  "  period  " ;  the  prac- 
tical man  leaves  "ideas"  to  the  doctrinaire,  and 
the  divine  leaves  it  to  the  dead  wrorldling  to  bury 
his  dead  in  his  own  fashion.  Specialism  is  erected 
into  a  philosophy,  a  creed,  a  moral  duty,  an  in- 
tellectual antiseptic.  It  is  this  dispersive  habit 
which  makes  our  art  so  mechanical,  our  religion 
so  superficial,  our  philosophy  so  unstable,  and 
our  politics  so  chaotic.  A  movement,  of  which 
the  first  aim  is  to  stem  the  torrent  of  this  disper- 
siveness,  naturally  finds  welcome  only  with  those 
whom  our  moral,  material,  and  mental  anarchy 
has  profoundly  saddened  and  alarmed. 

170 


POSITIVISM 

Positivism,  then,  so  far  as  it  is  a  religion,  does 
not  seek  to  be  accepted  on  impulse,  or  by  rapture, 
under  a  gush  of  devotional  excitement.  When 
Peter  preached,  "Repent  and  be  baptized,  and 
ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost!"  the 
same  day  there  were  added  unto  them  about  three 
thousand  souls.  But  Saint  Peter  cared  little  for 
science  or  philosophy,  and  even  less  for  politics 
and  art.  Positivism  asks  to  be  accepted  as  the 
result  of  a  great  body  of  convergent  convictions, 
or  not  to  be  accepted  at  all.  Being  a  religion,  it 
is  not  a  thing  to  be  decided  by  the  authority  of  the 
learned.  Every  brain  must  reason  it  out  for  itself ; 
every  heart  must  feel  its  enthusiasm ;  every  charac- 
ter must  resolve  to  live  and  die  by  it  in  daily  life. 
It  is  not  like  a  political  movement  which  aims  at 
forming  a  part}T,  a  militant  league,  or  a  revolution. 
It  never  appeals  to  the  instinct  of  combat;  it  in- 
flames no  passion  of  self-interest;  it  panders  not 
to  the  spirit  of  destruction,  to  the  spirit  of  equality, 
or  the  love  of  mockery  and  satire.  It  offers  nothing 
immediate,  no  panacea  to  make  every  one  blissful, 
or  rich,  or  wise.  It  insists  that  all  reforms  must 
be  gradual,  complicated,  spiritual,  and  moral,  not 
material  and  legislative.  It  discourages  all  im- 
mediate and  direct  remedies  for  social  and  political 
maladies,  and  ever  preaches  the  humble  and  dif- 
ficult method  of  progress  by  mental  education  and 
moral  regeneration.  Now,  those  reformers  who  are 
ready  to  sacrifice  all  their  impatient  hopes,  all  royal 
roads  to  the  millennium,  all  revolutionary  dreams 

171 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

for  establishing  Utopia,  such  spirits  are  few  and 
rare. 

The  problem  before  Positivism  is  threefold, 
each  side  being  practically  equal  in  importance 
and  also  in  difficulty.  It  seeks  to  transfer  religion 
from  a  supernatural  to  a  scientific  basis,  from 
a  theological  to  a  human  creed;  to  substitute  in 
philosophy  a  relative  anthropocentric  synthesis 
for  an  absolute,  cosmical  analysis ;  to  subordinate 
politics,  both  national  and  international,  to  moral- 
ity and  religion.  No  doubt,  in  these  three  tasks 
the  religion  is  the  dominant  element.  The  change 
in  its  meaning  and  scope  is  the  most  crucial  in  the 
history  of  human  civilization.  The  change  in- 
volves two  aspects,  at  first  sight  incompatible  and 
even  contradictory.  The  one  involves  the  sur- 
render of  the  supernatural  and  theological  mode 
of  thought;  the  other  is  the  revival,  or  rather  the 
amplification,  of  the  religious  tone  of  mind. 

Positivism,  thus,  with  one  hand,  has  to  carry  to 
its  furthest  limits  that  abandonment  of  the  super- 
natural and  theological  field  which  marks  the 
last  hundred  years  of  modern  thought,  and  yet, 
with  the  other  hand,  it  has  to  stem  the  tide  of  mate- 
rialism and  anti-religious  passion,  and  to  assert 
for  religion  a  far  larger  part  than  it  ever  had,  even 
in  the  ages  of  theocracy  and  sacerdotalism.  The 
vulgar  taunt  that  Positivism  is  anti-religious  arises 
from  ignorance.  The  constant  complaint  of  Posi- 
tivism is  that  religion,  in  all  its  neo-Christian 
phases,  has  shrunk  into  a  barren  formula.  The 

172 


POSITIVISM 

essence  of  Positivism  is  to  make  religion  permeate 
every  human  action,  thought,  and  emotion.  And 
the  idea  of  humanity  alone  can  do  this.  Deity 
cannot  say,  " Nihil  humani  a  me  alienum." 
Humanity  can  and  does  say  this;  whereas,  in 
logic,  the  formula  of  theology — the  formula  in 
which  it  glories — is  "  Omne  humanum  a  me  ali- 
enum." Omnipotence,  as  such,  can  have  no  con- 
cern with  the  binomial  theorem,  or  a  comedy  of 
Moliere,  or  female  suffrage,  or  old-age  pensions, 
or  a  Wagner  opera — that  is,  with  ninety-nine  parts 
of  human  life  and  interest.  The  result  is  that 
theological  religion  has  less  and  less  to  do  with 
human  life.  If  religion  is  ever  to  be  supreme,  it 
must  be  anthropocentric. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  an  age  so  ardently 
materialist  and  scientific  as  our  own  is  antipathetic 
to  the  idea  of  religion  presuming  to  interfere  at  all. 
The  ordinary  agnostic  or  skeptic,  if  he  abstains  in 
public  from  Voltairean  mockery,  systematically 
treats  religion,  even  the  religious  tendency  or  tone 
of  mind,  as  an  amiable  weakness  and  negligible 
quantity.  He  is  little  concerned  to  attack  it,  for 
he  finds  it  every  day  more  willing  to  get  out  of  his 
way,  and  to  wrap  itself  up  in  transcendental 
generalities.  This  is  the  temper  which  Positivism 
has  to  subdue.  But  it  finds  the  scientific  and 
positive  minds  scandalized  at  the  suggestion  of 
any  revival  of  religion,  while  the  religious  world 
is  scandalized  by  the  repudiation  of  theology.  A 
movement  having  aims  apparently  so  little  recon- 

173 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

cilable  can  only  find  prepared  minds  here  and 
there  to  accept  it.  Yet  its  strength  lies  in  this: 
it  is  the  only  possible  reconciliation  of  two  in- 
destructible tendencies,  equally  deep-rooted  in  the 
human  mind — the  craving  for  the  assurance  of 
demonstrable  realities,  and  the  craving  for  faith 
and  devotion  as  the  supreme  control  of  human  life. 

This  summary  sketch  of  the  Positivist  synthesis 
of  thought,  feeling,  and  life  is  not  intended  as  any 
explanation  of  it — an  elaborate  volume  could  not 
give  room  for  that — but  as  a  mere  preliminary  to 
dealing  with  the  question  I  am  asked  to  answer: 
What  are  the  present  position,  aims,  and  expec- 
tations of  Positivism? 

Well !  Auguste  Comte,  the  founder  of  Positivism, 
a  professor  at  the  Ecole  Polytechnique,  died  in 
Paris  about  forty-three  years  ago,  having  put 
forth  his  system  of  philosophy  about  sixty  years 
ago,  and  having  completed  his  system  of  polity 
and  religion  about  forty-five  years  ago.  There  are 
now  organized  bodies  of  men,  holding  and  teach- 
ing these  ideas,  in  most  of  the  parts  of  Europe  and 
also  of  the  transatlantic  continent.  Speaking  for 
England,  for  which  only  I  am  entitled  to  speak, 
the  English  groups,  not  very  numerous  bodies  in 
London  and  in  five  or  six  principal  towns,  prefer 
to  present  the  Positivist  synthesis  in  somewhat 
different  aspects,  but  do  not  disagree  in  any 
essential  principle.  Some  of  these  groups  choose 
to  insist  on  the  strictly  religious  side  of  the  Posi- 
tivist scheme,  regarding  it  as  a  church  in  the  ordi- 

174 


POSITIVISM 

nary  sense  of  the  term,  and  attempting  to  put  into 
ceremonial  practice  the  cult  described  in  the  fourth 
volume  of  Comte's  Politique.  This  neither  Comte 
himself  ever  did,  nor  has  his  direct  successor  and 
principal  disciple  done  so,  nor  have  Comte's  own 
personal  friends  in  France.  Without  passing  any 
opinion  upon  the  ultimate  realization  of  what,  for 
my  own  part,  I  regard  as  a  striking  and  interesting 
Utopia,  neither  I  nor  my  colleagues  in  the  English 
Positivist  Committee  have  felt  either  the  time  to 
be  ripe  for  any  such  undertaking  nor  the  develop- 
ment of  our  movement  to  be  adequate  to  make 
any  attempt  of  the  kind  practical  or  serious.  The 
attempt  has  led  in  South  America  to  some  farcical 
egotism,  and  the  experiment  elsewhere  has  led  to 
no  encouraging  result.  Personally,  I  have  no 
wish  to  see  the  pontifical  method  carried  any 
further,  and  it  has  little  interest  for  me. 

For  my  own  part,  from  the  formation  by  Comte's 
successor  in  Paris  of  the  English  Positivist  Com- 
mittee, of  which  I  have  been  president  for  twenty 
years,  I  have  always  opposed  everything  that  could 
tend  to  form  "a  sect."  By  "sect,"  I  mean  the 
Pharisaical  separation  of  a  body  of  persons  from 
their  fellow-citizens,  valuing  themselves  on  certain 
special  observances  and  living  an  exclusive  life 
of  their  own.  All  this  is  to  us  so  abhorrent  that 
we  would  rather  run  the  risk  of  becoming  too  easy 
than  of  becoming  narrow  sectaries.  Accordingly, 
we  have  been,  from  the  first,  of  the  world  and  in 
the  world  around  us;  having  no  shibboleths,  no 

175 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

creeds,  no  tests  of  orthodoxy,  not  even  any  roll  of 
membership.  We  have  always  been  ready  to  work 
with  all  humane  movements  of  a  kindred  sort. 
We  have  no  priests,  no  recognized  form  of  worship, 
no  ritual,  and  no  special  canon  of  adhesion.  They 
who  choose  to  come  among  us  to  follow  our  lect- 
ures or  to  discuss  our  views  are  welcome  to  come. 
Those  who  help  on  the  work,  by  labor  or  by  gifts 
in  money  or  in  kind,  are  of  us  and  with  us,  so  long 
as  it  pleases  them  to  continue  such  co-operation. 

Everything  about  our  work  is  voluntary,  gra- 
tuitous, open.  Newton  Hall  is,  first  and  foremost, 
a  free  school;  on  its  notices  is  written :  "  All  meet- 
ings and  lectures  free."  Nothing  is  paid  to  those 
who  lecture,  or  demanded  from  those  who  attend. 
No  questions  are  asked,  no  collection  is  made,  no 
seats  are  paid  for  or  reserved.  Those  who  choose 
to  subscribe  can  do  so,  without  giving  any  pledge, 
and  withdraw  when  they  choose  to  withdraw.  Lect- 
ures in  science,  in  history,  in  languages,  in  art, 
even  musical  training  and  classical  concerts,  have 
all  been  free  and  public.  And  tens  of  thousands 
of  men  and  women  have  been  present  from  time 
to  time  who  would  decline  to  call  themselves  Posi- 
tivists,  and  who  might  at  the  time  feel  little  more 
than  sympathy  and  interest.  The  aim  of  our  body 
has  been  to  form  a  school  of  thought,  not  to  found 
a  sect;  to  influence  current  opinion,  not  to  enroll 
members  of  a  party;  to  uphold  an  ideal  of  religion 
which  should  rest  on  positive  science  while  per- 
meating active  life.  It  is  an  idle  question  to  ask, 

176 


POSITIVISM 

"What  are  the  numbers,  or  the  machinery,  of 
such  a  body?" 

Newton  Hall,  opposite  the  Public  Record  Office, 
in  London,  has  now  been  open  nearly  twenty  years. 
It  was  so  named  because  it  stands  on  the  ground 
purchased  for  the  Royal  Society  by  Sir  Isaac 
Xewton,  its  president,  in  1710;  and,  during  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  Hall,  built  thereon  by  the 
Royal  Society  for  its  collections,  contained  the 
first  nucleus  of  the  British  Museum.  There  public, 
free  lectures  on  Positivist  philosophy,  science,  mo- 
rality, and  religion  have  been  carried  on  continually 
during  autumn,  winter,  and  spring,  together  with 
classes  for  the  study  of  mathematics,  physics, 
chemistry,  biology,  history,  languages,  and  music. 
The  greater  names  in  the  Positivist  Calendar  of 
558  Worthies  of  all  ages  and  nations  have  been 
commemorated  on  special  centenaries,  those  of 
musicians  by  appropriate  musical  pieces.  In  the 
summer  months,  these  lectures  have  been  extended 
in  the  form  of  pilgrimages  to  the  birthplace,  tomb, 
or  residence  of  the  illustrious  dead,  and  lectures 
at  the  public  museums,  galleries,  and  ancient 
monuments.  In  connection  with  Newton  Hall, 
there  have  been  social  parties,  libraries,  and  guilds 
of  \Toung  men  and  3Toung  women.  So  far,  the 
work  of  the  Positivist  body  in  London  has  been 
that  of  a  free  school  and  people's  institute. 

It  may  be  asked,  in  what  way  does  such  a  free 
school  differ  from  many  other  similar  institutions? 
The  answer  is  in  the  fact  that  the  entire  scheme 
M  177 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  education  given  in  Newton  Hall  is  synthetic  and 
organic — concentrated  on  the  propaganda  of  the 
Positive  Philosophy  and  the  Religion  of  Humanity. 
Leaving  it  to  other  movements  to  promote  mis- 
cellaneous information  and  promiscuous  culture 
of  a  general  kind,  the  aim  of  all  Positivist  teaching 
is  to  inculcate  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  Positive 
belief,  the  central  principles  of  Positive  morality, 
and  the  vital  sense  of  the  Human  Religion.  In 
the  first  report  issued  from  Newton  Hall,  for  1 88 1, 
we  said : 

"  The  very  existence  of  Positivism  as  a  scientific  system 
of  belief  depends  on  the  institution  of  a  complete  course  of 
education  and  the  formation  of  an  adequate  body  of  com- 
petent teachers.  There  is,  on  Positive  principles,  no  road 
to  stable  religious  convictions  except  by  the  way  of  knowl- 
edge of  real  things ;  and  there  is  no  royal  road  to  real  knowl- 
edge other  than  the  teaching  of  competent  instructors  and 
the  systematic  study  of  science  in  the  widest  sense.  One 
of  the  purposes  for  which  Newton  Hall  has  been  opened  is 
to  offer  free  popular  training  in  the  essential  elements  of  scien- 
tific knowledge.  Our  plan  is  but  one  of  the  many  attempts 
around  us  to  found  a  People's  School.  It  differs  from  almost 
all  of  these  in  the  following  things : 

"  I.  It  will  be,  on  principle,  strictly  free ;  no  teacher  being 
paid,  and  no  fee  being  received. 

"  2.  The  education  aimed  at,  not  being  either  professional 
or  literary,  will  follow  the  scheme  of  scientific  instruction  laid 
down  for  the  future  by  Auguste  Comte. 

"  3.  While  having  no  theological  or  metaphysical  element, 
the  entire  course  of  study  will  aim  at  a  religious — that  is,  a 
social  purpose,  as  enabling  us  to  effect  our  due  service  to  the 
cause  of  humanity,  by  understanding  the  laws  which  reg- 
ulate the  world  and  our  own  material  and  moral  being." 

In  pursuance  of  this  scheme  of  education,  courses 
of  lectures  have  been  given  by  graduates  of  the 

178 


POSITIVISM 

universities,  most  of  them  having  been  professors, 
examiners,  and  lecturers  in  various  sciences,  arts, 
or  histoty.  The  courses  have  been  followed,  in 
many  cases,  during  the  whole  of  that  period,  and 
many  of  the  students  have  obtained  a  solid  general 
education,  especially  in  the  various  branches  of 
history,  biography,  and  political  philosophy.  It 
is  not  pretended  that  this  has  been  done  by  any 
large  numbers.  Other  institutions  of  the  kind 
have  enjo3^ed  much  greater  resources  and  have 
attracted  far  more  numerous  attendants.  The 
reason  is  obvious.  For  one  man  who  has  the  pa- 
tience or  the  thoughtfulness  to  put  himself  under 
the  curriculum  of  a  laborious  training,  for  the  sole 
end  of  obtaining  an  intellectual  and  moral  guid- 
ance in  a  definite  system,  there  are  always  ninety- 
nine  who  are  ready  to  pick  up  any  desultory,  en- 
tertaining, or  marketable  knowledge  which  may 
be  offered  to  them  without  too  much  mental  dis- 
cipline or  any  distinctive  labels.  To  enter  a  Posi- 
tivist  hall,  much  less  to  join  a  Positivist  class,  or 
to  subscribe  to  a  Positivist  fund,  requires,  in  these 
days  of  prejudice  and  lampooning,  a  certain  mental 
detachment  and  a  real  moral  courage.  The  direct 
object  of  our  courses  is  to  inculcate  Positive  convic- 
tions with  a  view  to  a  Positivist  life.  And  as  the 
public  which  is  prepared  to  accept  these  terms  is 
as  yet  not  numerous,  our  hearers  must  be  rather 
described  as  "fit,  though  few." 

If  the  formation  of  coherent  Positivist  convic- 
tions by  a  scientific  education  be  the  first  task  of 

179 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

such  a  movement,  it  is  far  from  being  the  sole  task. 
The  control  of  all  action,  whether  political,  economic, 
or  international,  by  moral  judgment  is  a  cardinal 
duty  imposed  on  Positivists  in  all  places  and  at 
all  times.  Accordingly,  for  forty  years  English 
Positivists  have  ardently  supported  the  just  claims 
of  labor  against  the  oppression  of  capitalism,  the 
just  demand  of  the  people  to  full  incorporation  in 
the  state,  which  exists  mainly  for  the  use  and  im- 
provement of  the  people ;  they  have  maintained  the 
just  demand  of  the  Irish  nation  to  be  recognized 
as  an  indestructible  national  unit;  they  have  pro- 
tested against  a  series  of  unjust  wars  and  the 
incessant  efforts  of  British  imperialism  to  crush 
out  one  independent  race  after  another.  All  this 
is  no  recent  thing.  Forty  years  ago,  the  founders 
of  the  Positivist  group  in  England  began  to  take 
public  action  on  behalf  of  the  organized  trades 
unions.  In  1867  the  Positivist  Society  appealed 
to  Parliament  through  Mr.  John  Bright,  M.  P., 
on  behalf  of  the  Irish  Nationalists;  and  they  have 
never  ceased  to  uphold  the  same  cause.  In  1881 
they  appealed  to  the  government  to  recognize  the 
full  independence  of  the  Transvaal  Republic. 
And  to-day  they  are  the  first  to  insist  on  the  same 
policy  as  that  of  justice  and  honor. 

There  has  never  been  an  unjust  annexation  or  a 
wanton  war  in  Europe,  Asia,  or  Africa  within  the 
last  thirty  years  when  the  Positivist  body  has  not 
raised  its  voice  to  plead  for  morality  and  justice, 
regardless  of  the  popular  cry  for  empire  and  malig- 

180 


POSITIVISM 

nant  sneers  at  "  Little  Englandism."  The  record 
of  these  efforts  may  be  seen  in  the  Essays  of 
Dr.  R.  Congreve,  the  first  to  form  a  Positivist  body 
in  England;  in  the  Positivist  Comments  on  Pub- 
lic Affairs,  1878—92;  and,  from  1893  to  1900,  in 
the  eight  volumes  of  the  Positivist  Review.  In 
an  article  in  the  Positivist  Comments  I  wrote: 

"  The  Positivist  Society  has  no  reason  to  shrink  from  a 
review  of  its  policy  over  this  period  under  five  different  ad- 
ministrations. It  is  a  policy  independent  of  party :  national, 
patriotic,  and  devoid  of  any  petty  or  factious  criticism.  Its 
sole  aim  is  to  plead  for  the  real  honor  and  good  of  England, 
in  the  interest  of  peace,  the  harmony  of  nations,  respect  for 
other  races,  religions,  and  honorable  ambitions,  and  mainly 
for  the  cause  of  general  civilization. " 

These  Comments  over  fourteen  years,  I  said: 

"  Embody  a  coherent  and  systematic  policy  dealing  with 
England's  international  relations  as  a  whole,  and  weighing 
the  ultimate  and  indirect  effect  of  each  proposed  action  as 
affecting  the  peace  of  the  world  and  the  true  cause  of  civiliza- 
tion. It  is  not  a  policy  of  peace-at-any-price,  nor  of  a  little- 
England,  nor  of  uninstructed  sentiment,  nor  of  any  preju- 
dice of  creed  or  race,  much  less  of  party,  of  democratic 
faction,  or  mischief-making.  It  is  a  policy  that  considers 
the  past,  and  still  more  the  future,  and  not  merely  the  pres- 
ent— a  policy  that  respects  the  rights  and  dignity  of  other 
nations  as  much  as  our  own."  * 

Of  course,  such  a  policy  as  this,  publicly  pur- 
sued in  times  of  intense  social  and  political  excite- 
ment, could  not  fail  to  strain  the  cohesion  of  the 
Positivist  propaganda  and  to  limit  its  progress. 

*  Positivist  Review,  vol.  iv.,  p.  73. 

181 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

Bound  by  our  most  sacred  principles  to  uphold 
definite  views  of  national  and  international  moral- 
ity, we  could  not  fail  to  encounter  the  prejudices 
of  party,  of  class,  of  race,  of  patriotism,  in  their 
hours  of  keenest  heat.  Though  resolutely  ab- 
staining from  any  party  entanglement  and  from 
any  criticism  of  practical  applications  of  principle, 
it  was  in  the  last  degree  difficult  to  prevent  some 
divergences  of  view,  and  impossible  not  to  drive 
away  thousands  of  those  who  were  otherwise  dis- 
posed to  join.  No  system  of  thought,  no  economic 
scheme,  certainly  no  religious  movement,  ever 
had  to  meet  such  inherent  obstacles  to  acceptance. 
A  philosophy  appeals  to  thought,  but  it  does  not 
meddle  with  angry  political  debates.  The  social 
reformer  has  his  own  difficulties,  but  he  does  not 
rouse  up  the  passions  of  politicians,  party,  and  jour- 
nalism. The  religious  reformer  renders  unto  Caesar 
the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  and  is  absorbed  in  the 
higher  interests  of  the  soul  and  its  salvation.  But 
Positivism,  because  it  is  a  polity,  as  much  as  it  is  a 
philosophy  and  a  religion,  is  continually  forced  to 
face  the  most  angry  storms  of  popular  delirium  and 
of  political  passion.  And  never  so  much  as  to-day. 
Lastly,  the  distinctive  aim  of  Positivism  is  to 
promulgate  the  conception  of  a  real  religion  based 
on  positive  science.  No  religion  can  be  stable  or 
dominant  if  it  rests  on  hypotheses  and  aspirations, 
which  are  necessarily  dreamy  and  in  constant 
flux.  If  religion,  in  our  age  of  realities,  is  to  be 
based  on  acknowledged  proofs,  its  object  must  be 

182 


POSITIVISM 

earthly  and  human.  The  supreme  power,  domi- 
nant on  earth  and  over  man,  of  which  we  have  sci- 
entific knowledge  is  Humanity.  And  the  ideal  of 
Positivism  is  gradually  to  form  the  sense  of  a 
religion  of  Humanity. 

And  this  is,  also,  the  main  difficulty  that  Posi- 
tivism has  to  overcome.  Denouncing,  as  it  does,  the 
insolent  folly  of  atheism,  and  also  the  arid  nullity 
of  agnosticism,  it  is  yet  difficult  to  convince  the 
religious  minded  that  Positivism  can  be  anything 
but  a  new  attack  on  Christianity  and  on  theism. 
Comte  said:  "The  atheist  is  the  most  irrational 
of  all  theologians,  for  he  gives  the  least  admissible 
answer  to  the  insoluble  problem  of  the  universe." 
Neither  in  open  controversy,  nor  in  private  medita- 
tion, does  the  true  Positivist  hold  the  belief  that 
the  Infinite  All  came  about  by  chance  or  made 
itself.  But  the  orthodox  controversialist  per- 
versely confounds  him  with  those  who  do  hold  the 
atheistic  creed,  and  this  becomes  the  source  of 
rooted  antipathy  and  prejudice.  The  Positivist 
neither  denies  creation  with  the  atheist,  nor  is  he 
satisfied,  with  the  agnostic,  to  boast  that  he  knows 
nothing  as  to  the  religious  problem.  He  simply 
says  that,  whatever  higher  paths  may  yet  be 
known,  the  historic  conception  of  Humanity  and 
its  practical  providence  offers  all  the  essential 
elements  of  a  religious  faith. 

This  does  not  satisfy  the  theist,  and  the  forms 
of  theism  are  infinitely  vague,  indefinite,  mys- 
tical, or  even  verbal,  almost  as  numerous  as  the 

183 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

individual  theists.  A  well-known  man  of  letters 
thus  summed  up  his  creed :  "  He  fancied  there  was 
a  sort  of  a  something \"  Any  of  us  might  say  that, 
and  not  find  it  a  working  religion.  It  is  the  very 
definiteness,  the  undeniable  reality  of  Humanity, 
its  close  touch  upon  every  phase  of  human  life, 
that  repels  so  many  anxious  wanderers  in  the 
limitless  wilderness  of  theology.  In  these  days 
of  shallow  spiritualism,  the  weaker  brethren  will 
cling  to  anything  that  is  cloudy,  unintelligible, 
transcendental.  And  their  practical  gods  are 
Mammon  and  Moloch. 

Much  less  is  Positivism  an  attack  on  Christianity. 
It  is  the  rational  development  of  Christianity,  its 
incorporation  with  science  and  philosophy.  Not, 
certainly,  with  the  miraculous  and  supernatural 
dogmas  of  Christendom,  but  with  the  humanity  of 
the  gospel  in  its  spiritual  ideal,  and  the  moral  and 
social  ideals  of  the  Christian  churches.  No  doubt, 
the  Christian  ideal  is  but  a  fractional  part  of  the 
Positivist  ideal,  just  as  the  Christian  ideal  is  only 
in  touch  with  a  fractional  part  of  human  nature 
and  man's  life  on  earth.  But  so  far  as  this  Chris- 
tian ideal  is  honestly  human  and  essentially 
permanent  Positivism  is  destined  to  give  it  a  vast 
development.  But  this  is  not  enough  for  those 
who  still  hanker  after  the  Athanasian  Creed  or  the 
Westminster  Confession,  or  even  some  more  in- 
scrutable label. 

The  human  t}^pe  of  religion  must  radically  differ 
from  the  theological  type,  for  it  can  have  nothing 

184 


POSITIVISM 

of  the  violent,  ecstatic,  sensational  character  which 
is  inherent  in  monotheism.  Positivism  is  an 
adult  and  mature  phase  of  religion,  primarily  ad- 
dressed to  adults,  to  men  and  women  of  formed 
character  and  trained  understanding.  It  is  a 
manly  and  womanly  religion,  full  of  manly  and 
womanly  associations  and  duties.  Hence,  it  must 
grow  gradually,  work  equally,  and  be  marked 
by  endurance,  reserve,  good  sense,  completeness, 
more  than  by  passion,  fanaticism,  and  ecstatic  self- 
abandonment.  When  they  ask  us,  Where  are 
the  tremendous  sanctions,  spasmodic  beatitudes, 
penances,  raptures,  beatific  visions,  and  tran- 
scendent mysteries  of  Christianity?  we  can  only 
smile.  These  things  belong  to  the  childhood  of 
man,  the  fairy  tale  of  religion.  The  "customs" 
of  Dahomey,  the  sacrifices  of  polytheism  and 
Mosaism  disgust  the  maturity  of  man.  And  so 
Christianity  will  never  satisfy  the  later  ages  of 
civilization,  until  it  is  rational  from  top  to  bottom, 
co-extensive  with  human  life,  and  in  close  touch 
with  our  latest  culture  and  all  forms  of  healthy 
manliness  and  womanliness.  Religion  is  not  to 
be  forever  nourished  by  mere  hysterical  emotions 
and  vague  yearnings  for  what  we  cannot  ration- 
ally conceive. 

Religion,  so  reconstituted,  will  lose  much  of  its 
rapturous  and  ecstatic  character.  It  will  gain  in 
solidity,  constancy,  and  breadth.  Instead  of  being  a 
thing  of  transcendental  hopes  and  fears,  stimulated 
on  Sundays  and  occasional  moments,  but  laid 

185 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

aside,  if  not  doubted,  for  the  rest  of  man's  active 
time,  religion  will  be  a  body  of  scientific  convic- 
tions, poetic  emotions,  and  moral  habits,  in  close 
relation  with  all  our  thoughts,  acts,  and  feelings, 
and  naturally  applying  to  everything  we  do  or 
desire  or  think.  It  will  be  part  of  the  citizen's 
daily  life:  more  social  than  personal,  more  civic 
than  domestic,  more  practical  than  mystical.  It 
will  give  ample  scope  to  the  personal,  the  domestic, 
even  the  mystical  side  of  human  nature,  within 
the  control  of  reason  and  the  claims  of  active  duty. 
Religion  will  thus  mean  the  guidance  of  right 
living  by  the  light  of  personal  and  social  duty  as 
taught  by  a  systematic  sociology.  Its  creed  will 
be  a  synthetic  philosophy,  resting  on  the  general 
body  of  positive  science.  And  its  worship  will 
be  the  expression  of  loyalty  to  Humanity  in  all 
its  phases,  as  manifested  in  its  true  servants,  the 
known  or  the  unknown,  the  living  or  the  dead,  of 
all  ages  and  of  every  race. 

FREDERIC  HARRISON. 


BABISM 


BABISM 


THE  general  reader's  knowledge  of  Persia  and 
things  Persian  is  usually  limited  to  the  bare  facts 
that  the  country  is  ruled  by  a  Shah,  and  that  in 
times  past  it  has  produced  one  or  two  poets.  Some 
know  that  Mohammedanism  is  there  the  prevalent 
religion;  but  beyond  such  knowledge  few  have 
penetrated.  Considering,  then,  the  limitations  of 
our  general  knowledge  on  the  subject  of  Persia, 
it  is  a  matter  of  small  wonder  that  a  religious  move- 
ment in  that  country,  however  great  its  magnitude, 
and  however  far-reaching  its  consequences,  should 
escape  the  attention  of  the  Western  world. 

In  the  present  article  we  have  to  deal  with  no 
mere  religious  reformation,  but  with  the  founda- 
tion and  rise,  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, of  a  new  faith.  In  its  early  history,  as  we 
shall  see,  it  has  much  in  common  with  Christianity, 
as  also  in  the  matter  of  doctrine,  emphasizing,  as 
it  does,  the  brotherhood  of  man,  and  aspiring  to  a 
universal  reign  of  peace,  love,  freedom,  and  unity 
of  belief. 

In  tracing  the  origin  and  rise  of  any  religion 
whatsoever,  it  is,  where  possible,  fitting  to  examine 

189 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  religion  or  religions  which  have  been  in  vogue 
at  its  birth;  for  these  have,  of  necessity,  always 
served  as  a  starting-point  for  a  new  dispensation. 
Thus,  for  example,  for  the  proper  understanding  of 
Mohammedanism,  it  is  Judaism  (not  of  the  Torah, 
but  of  the  Talmud),  Christianity  (chiefly  of  the 
Apocryphal  Gospels)  and  Sabaeanism  which  we 
must  study.  In  the  case  of  Babism,  we  must 
examine  Mohammedanism  from  the  Shiite  stand- 
point, and  beyond  this  a  movement  known  as 
Shaykhism,  which,  at  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  grew  out  of  the  Shiite  faith.  In  or- 
der, however,  fully  to  appreciate  the  exact  position 
of  Shaykhism,  and  in  its  turn  of  Babism,  in  their 
relation  to  Islam,  it  will  be  fitting  to  explain,  in 
as  few  words  as  possible,  the  main  points  of  diver- 
gence between  Shiism,  the  state  religion  of  Persia, 
and  Sunnism,  or  orthodox  Mohammedanism,  as 
practised  in  Turkey,  Egypt,  India,  and  elsewhere. 
The  divergences  in  teaching  which  divide  these 
two  factions  are  more  sharply  indicated  than  those 
which  separate  Protestants  from  Roman  Catholics, 
and  their  mutual  hostility  is  also  greater.  The 
principal  difference,  as  is  well  known,  lies  in  the 
recognition,  or  otherwise,  of  all  the  early  successors 
of  Mohammed  as  vicars  of  God  on  earth.  The 
Sunnis  recognize  the  claims  of  the  first  four 
Caliphs,  Abu  Bakr,  Omar,  Othman,  and  Ali,  while 
the  Shiites  maintain  that  Ali  and  his  descendants 
were  the  only  lawful  successors.  The  Omayyad 
Caliphs  and  their  successors,  the  Abbassids,  are 

190 


BABISM 

duly  cursed  by  the  Shiites,  not  merely  as  usurpers, 
but  even  more  vehemently  for  having  put  to  death 
or  persecuted  as  many  as  they  could  of  the  house 
of  Ali.  Thus  there  arose  two  rival  dynasties — the 
Caliphs  of  the  Sunni  faction  and  the  Imams  of 
the  Shiite ;  the  former  claiming  both  temporal  and 
spiritual  power  over  the  Sunni  church,  while  the 
Imams  are  reverenced  as  saints,  and  even  worship- 
ped by  the  Shiites.  According  to  the  orthodox 
Shiites,  there  were  twelve  Imams,  of  whom  eleven 
lived  and  died  on  earth;  whereas  the  twelfth,  who 
is  known  as  the  Imam  Mahdi,  disappeared  and 
remains  hidden  until  such  time  as  he  shall  reap- 
pear and  inaugurate  the  millennium.  The  person 
of  this  Imam  was,  from  the  first,  enveloped  in  mys- 
tery. According  to  Shiite  belief,  he  disappeared 
from  the  eyes  of  men  in  the  year  940  A.D.,  and 
retired  to  the  mysterious  city  of  Jabulka,  where  he 
still  lives.  At  first,  he  continued  to  communicate 
with  the  faithful  through  the  medium  of  certain 
chosen  persons,  who  were  known  by  the  name  of 
Bab  or  Gate.  Of  these  Babs,  there  were  four  in 
succession,  and  the  period  during  which  they  acted 
as  the  temporary  guides  of  the  faithful  is  known 
as  the  "Lesser  Occultation. "  On  the  death  of 
the  fourth  Bab,  this  apostolic  succession  came 
to  an  abrupt  end,  and  thus  began  the  period  known 
as  the  "  Greater  Occultation." 

In  the  course  of  centuries,  many  various  sects 
and  schools  had  grown  out  of  the  Shiite  creed, 
and  among  these  was  Shaykhism,  which  originat- 

191 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

ed  early  in  the  nineteenth  century  in  the  teaching 
of  a  certain  Ahmed  Ahsai.  Space  will  not  permit 
us  to  enter  into  the  details  of  his  teaching.  Suf- 
fice it  to  say  that  it  was  characterized,  first,  by  a 
veneration  for  the  Imams  which  in  intensity  sur- 
passed that  of  the  most  devout  Shiites ;  and,  second- 
ly, by  a  doctrine  known  as  that  of  the  "  Fourth  Sup- 
port," which  maintained  that  there  must  always 
be  among  the  Shiites  some  "perfect  man,"  capa- 
ble of  serving  as  a  channel  of  grace  between  the 
Hidden  Imam  and  his  church.  Shaykh  Ahmed 
was  succeeded  at  his  death  by  Hajji  Sayyid  Kazim, 
who  held  largely  attended  conferences  at  Kerbela, 
the  principal  place  of  veneration  and  object  of  pil- 
grimage of  the  Shiites.  Now,  among  those  who 
attended  the  lectures  of  Sayyid  Kazim  was  a  young 
man  of  Shiraz,  named  Mirza  AH  Mohammad,  who, 
though  very  reserved  in  manner,  attracted  the 
attention  of  his  teacher  by  his  earnestness  and 
grave  demeanor.  Born  of  a  good  family,  he  had 
apparently  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  a  distin- 
guished education;  he  showed  a  great  predilection 
for  the  occult  sciences,  the  philosophic  theory 
of  numbers,  and  the  like.  He,  furthermore,  had 
opportunities  of  intercourse  with  the  Jews  of 
Shiraz,  and  through  Protestant  missionary  trans- 
lations he  became  acquainted  with  the  Gospels. 
He  was  strikingly  handsome,  and  his  charms  of 
speech  and  manner  were,  it  appears  from  all  ac- 
counts, irresistible.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he 
married;  and  by  his  marriage  had  one  son,  who 

192 


BABISM 

died  in  infancy.  He  was  at  this  period  settled  in 
business  at  Bushire;  and,  from  that  port  of  the 
Persian  Gulf,  he  went  to  Kerbela  and  attended,  as 
we  have  said,  the  conferences  of  Sayyid  Kazim. 
Here  he  remained  for  a  few  months,  and  then  de- 
parted as  suddenly  as  he  had  come,  returning  to 
Shiraz.  Not  long  after  this,  Sayyid  Kazim  died, 
without,  however,  nominating  a  successor ;  and  this 
fact,  as  will  be  seen,  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
in  the  history  of  the  Bab. 

Shortly  after  Sayyid  Kazim's  death,  a  certain 
Mulla  Husayn  of  Bushrawayh,  who  had  attended 
the  Sayyid's  lectures  at  the  same  time  as  Mirza 
Ali  Mohammad,  came  to  Shiraz,  and,  as  was  only 
natural,  took  that  opportunity  of  visiting  his  former 
fellow-student.  The  two  at  once  fell  to  talking 
of  the  death  of  their  lamented  teacher,  and  referred 
to  the  strange  words  he  had  spoken  as  death  was 
approaching:  "Do  you  not  desire  that  I  should 
go,  so  that  the  truth  may  become  manifest?"  though 
he  gave  no  hint  of  the  manner  in  which  the  truth 
should  be  revealed.  At  this  point  in  the  con- 
versation, Mirza  Ali  Mohammad,  to  the  utter 
amazement  of  his  friend,  suddenly  declared  that 
he  himself  was  the  promised  guide,  the  new  in- 
termediary between  the  Hidden  Imam  and  the 
faithful;  in  short,  that  he  was  the  Bab,  or  "Gate," 
through  which  men  might  communicate  with 
the  Imam  Mahdi.  Mulla  Husayn,  though  at  first 
inclined  to  doubt,  soon  came  to  believe  in  the  truth 
of  this  declaration  with  a  faith  that  thenceforth 
N  193 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

remained  unshaken.  This  manifestation  and 
conversion  of  the  first  disciple  took  place  on  May 
23,  1844,  almost  exactly  one  thousand  years  after 
the  "Lesser  Occultation."  Mulla  Husayn  at 
once  began  to  spread  the  "good  news"  among 
the  followers  of  Sayyid  Kazim,  many  of  whom 
immediately  set  out  for  Shiraz,  so  that  very  soon 
was  gathered  round  the  Bab  a  devoted  band  of 
believers,  which  included,  besides  the  followers 
of  Sayyid  Kazim,  others  who  were  attracted  by  the 
new  faith.  The  various  kinds  of  persons  who 
were  thus  attracted  may  be  summed  up  as  follows : 

1.  The  Shaykhis. 

2.  Shiites,  who  believed  that  the  Bab's  teaching 
was  the  fulfilling  of  the  Koran. 

3.  Men  who  saw  in  it  a  hope  of  national  reform. 

4.  Sufis  and  mystics. 

To  these  four  classes  we  may  add  to-day : 

5.  Those  to  whom  the  life  and  teaching  of  the 
Bab  and  Beha  appeal  in  a  general  wa3^ ;  and  among 
these  must  be  numbered  those  Western  converts 
who  do  not  fall  under  the  next  head. 

6.  Those  who  regard  Babism  as  a  fulfilment  of 
Christianit3T. 

At  this  period  the  Bab  had  already  written  several 
works,  and  these  were  now  eagerly  perused  by  his 
disciples,  who,  from  time  to  time,  were  also  "  priv- 
ileged to  listen  to  the  words  of  the  master  him- 
self, as  he  depicted  in  vivid  language  the  world- 
liness  and  immorality  of  the  Mullas,  or  Moham- 
medan clergy,  and  the  injustice  and  rapacity  of 

194 


BABISM 

the  civil  authorities/'  and  the  like.  He  further 
prophesied  that  better  days  were  at  hand.  At 
this  time,  however,  he  did  not  openly  attack  Islam. 
Thus  do  we  find  Mirza  AH  Mohammad  in  the  first 
stage  of  his  mission,  setting  forth  claims  to  be  the 
Bab,  or  channel  of  grace  between  the  Imam  Mahdi 
and  his  church,  and  inveighing  against  the  cor- 
ruptions of  the  clergy  and  the  government,  by 
whom  he  naturally  came  to  be  regarded  with 
suspicion  and  dislike.  Not  long  after  his  mani- 
festation, when  his  fame  had  already  spread 
throughout  the  country,  he  set  out  to  perform 
the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca.  It  was  probably  in  the 
Holy  Cit3^  itself  that  he,  once  and  for  all,  freed  him- 
self from  the  prophet's  faith,  and  conceived  the 
thought  of  "ruining  this  faith,  in  order  to  establish 
in  its  place  something  altogether  differing  from  it." 
He  returned  from  Mecca  in  August,  1845,  pos- 
sessed of  more  definite  aims  and  ideals  with  regard 
to  his  own  mission.  Meanwhile,  the  clergy  and 
the  government  had  determined  that  the  move- 
ment was  dangerous,  and  that  it  bade  fair  to  be- 
come more  so.  Active  measures  must,  therefore, 
be  taken  for  its  suppression,  while  this  was  yet 
an  easy  matter.  Several  of  the  Bab's  disciples 
were,  accordingly,  seized  in  Shiraz,  and,  having 
been  bastinadoed,  they  were  warned  to  desist  from 
preaching.  On  landing  in  Bushire,  the  Bab  was 
arrested  and  brought  to  Shiraz,  where  he  under- 
went an  examination  by  the  clergy  in  the  presence 
of  the  governor  of  that  town.  He  was  pronounced 

195 


a  heretic,  and  ordered  to  remain  in  his  house  until 
further  orders.  No  very  strict  watch  was,  however, 
kept  over  him,  and,  like  St.  Paul  before  him,  he  was 
visited  by  and  conferred  with  the  faithful. 

In  the  spring  of  1846  he  escaped  to  Ispahan, 
where  he  remained  under  the  protection  of  the  gov- 
ernor of  that  town.  In  the  following  year  this  gov- 
ernor died,  and  his  successor  in  office  immediately 
sent  the  Bab  in  the  direction  of  Teheran  under  an 
armed  escort.  The  Shah's  ministers,  however, 
deeming  that  the  Bab's  presence  in  the  capital 
might  prove  dangerous,  gave  orders  that  he  should 
be  taken  off  to  the  distant  frontier-fortress  of  Maku, 
where  he  composed  a  great  number  of  works  and 
was  in  constant  correspondence  with  his  followers. 
In  order  to  put  a  stop  to  this  correspondence  and 
to  set  him  in  closer  confinement,  the  Bab  was  re- 
moved to  Chihrik,  whence  not  long  after  he  was 
summoned  to  Tabriz,  to  undergo  examination  by 
some  of  the  leading  clergy  in  the  presence  of  the 
Crown  Prince  (afterwards  Shah  Nasir-ud-Din). 
This  examination  was,  of  course,  a  pure  farce  and 
the  verdict  a  foregone  conclusion.  His  inquisitors 
hoped  to  catch  him  tripping,  but  their  victim  drove 
them  to  exasperation  by  the  attitude  of  dignified 
silence  which  he  adopted  towards  their  bullying 
questions.  Finally,  they  ordered  him  to  be  beaten 
and  sent  back  to  Chihrik,  where  he  was  now  sub- 
jected to  such  close  confinement  that  he  was  only 
able  to  communicate  with  his  followers  by  means 
of  the  most  peculiar  devices :  scraps  of  paper  were, 

196 


B  A  B  I  S  M 

for    example,    concealed    among    sweetmeats    or 
wrapped  in  waterproof  and  sunk  in  milk. 

While  he  was  confined  in  Chihrik  his  teaching 
underwent  some  development,  for  he  now  declared 
himself  to  be  not  merely  the  Gate  leading  to  the 
Imam  Mahdi,  but  to  be  the  point  of  revelation, 
the  Imam  himself.  What  he  had  hitherto  preached 
in  parables  only  he  would  now  openly  proclaim. 
He  declared  that  his  mission  was  not  final,  and 
spoke  of  one  yet  greater  than  himself  who  should 
come  after,  and  should  be  "He  whom  God  shall 
manifest/'  He  laid  great  stress  on  this  point,  and 
expressed  an  urgent  desire  that  men  should  receive 
the  next  manifestation  better  than  they  had  re- 
ceived this  one.  He  further  added :  "  They  are  to 
remember  that  no  revelation  is  final,  but  only 
represents  the  measure  of  truth  which  the  state  of 
human  progress  has  rendered  mankind  capable  of 
receiving." 

We  cannot,  within  the  space  of  an  article,  enter 
into  the  question  of  the  philosophic  theory  of  num- 
bers which  played  so  important  a  part  in  Babi  tenets. 
It  must,  however,  be  mentioned  that  the  number 
19,  from  a  variety  of  causes,  is  held  in  especial 
esteem  among  them.  Thus,  the  year,  in  the  Bab's 
reformed  calendar,  was  composed  of  nineteen 
months  of  nineteen  days  each,  and  so  forth.  And 
thus,  too,  he  elected  among  his  followers  eighteen 
chosen  disciples,  whom  he  called  the  "Letters  of 
the  Living,"  of  whom  he,  the  nineteenth,  was 
the  "  Point  of  Unity  "  which  completed  the  sacred 

197 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

number.  There  was  a  sort  of  apostolic  succession 
among  these  "Letters/'  so  that  when  one  died 
some  other  Babi  was  appointed  to  his  place.  The 
Bab  composed  about  a  dozen  works  in  all,  the  most 
important  of  which  was  the  Bayan,  a  work  con- 
taining a  precise  statement  of  all  the  doctrines 
taught  by  him  during  the  final  stage  of  his  mission. 
It  was,  in  fact,  the  Babi  Bible. 

Leaving  the  Bab  for  a  while  in  the  prison  of 
Chihrik,  we  must  turn  to  consider  the  fortunes 
and  misfortunes  of  his  now  numerous  followers. 
Of  the  eighteen  chosen  "Letters/'  three  fill  a  most 
conspicuous  place  in  the  early  history  of  the  Babi 
movement :  namely,  Mulla  Husayn  of  Bushrawayh, 
who,  as  we  have  seen,  was  the  first  convert  to  the 
new  faith;  Mohammad  Ali  of  Balfarush;  and  a 
woman  named  Kurrat  ul-Ayn,  or  "Coolth  o'  the 
Eyn."  To  no  one  does  Babism  owe  more  for  its 
spread  throughout  Persia  than  to  Mulla  Husayn, 
who,  during  the  Bab's  confinement  in  prison,  trav- 
elled the  whole  country  over  carrying  the  new 
gospel:  visiting,  in  turn,  Ispahan,  where  he  met 
with  much  success;  Kashan,  with  like  result; 
Teheran,  whence  he  was  expelled;  Nishapur, 
where  he  made  numberless  converts,  and  Meshed, 
where  he  was  seized  by  the  Shah's  uncle.  He 
managed,  however,  to  escape  to  Nishapur,  whence 
he  set  out  westward  with  an  ever-increasing  band 
of  followers. 

This  was  in  1848,  a  year  as  eventful  almost  in 
Persia  as  it  was  in  the  states  of  Europe.  The 

198 


BABISM 

clergy  were  becoming  more  and  more  fearful  of 
the  growth  of  the  Babi  movement,  and  bitterness 
on  both  sides  was  rapidly  increasing ;  and  it  must 
be  admitted  that  the  Babis,  in  the  excess  of  their 
zeal,  did  not  hesitate  to  employ  the  most  insulting 
language  towards  the  orthodox  Shiites.  Hostilities 
seemed  inevitable,  and  the  Mullas  were  apparently 
on  the  point  of  striking  the  first  blow,  when,  sud- 
denly, in  September,  1848,  Mohammad  Shah  died; 
and,  the  minds  of  the  Mullas  being  filled  with 
thoughts  of  succession  and  possible  political  revolts, 
the  Babis  were  for  a  moment  forgotten.  Mulla 
Husayn,  profiting  by  this  temporary  preoccupation 
of  the  Mullas,  saw  fit  to  proceed  into  Mazanderan 
and  effect  a  junction  of  his  followers  with  those 
of  Mulla  Mohammad  AH  of  Balfarush,  who  had,  in 
the  mean  time,  been  actively  and  successfully  carry- 
ing on  the  propaganda  of  the  new  faith  in  that 
province.  We  must  now  pass  to  the  summer  of 
1849,  when  we  find  Mulla  Husayn  and  his  followers 
shut  up  within  the  rude  earthworks  and  palisades 
of  a  spot  known  as  Shaykh  Tabarsi,  on  the  slopes 
of  the  Elburz  Mountains,  bidding  defiance  to  the 
Shah's  troops.  For  eight  long  months  did  this 
gallant  band  of  Babis,  brought  up  for  the  most 
part,  it  must  be  remembered,  to  peaceful  pursuits, 
hold  the  royal  army  at  bay.  At  length,  their  brave 
leader,  Mulla  Husayn,  having  been  killed,  and 
their  provisions  exhausted,  they  surrendered  con- 
ditionally to  their  besiegers,  who  promised  them 
life  and  liberty.  But  the  royalist  officers  put  them 

199 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

all  to  the  sword.  Soon  after  this  brutal  suppression 
of  the  revolt  in  Mazanderan,  a  similar  scene  was 
enacted  at  Zanjan,  in  the  northwest  of  Persia ;  the 
same  story  is  repeated  of  bravery,  starvation, 
and  death.  While  the  siege  of  Zanjan  was  still 
in  progress,  another  Babi  rising  took  place  in  the 
south  of  Persia,  and  the  government,  being 
thoroughly  alarmed,  determined  to  strike  at  the 
root  of  the  matter,  and  to  put  the  Bab  to  death. 

We  left  the  Bab  in  prison  at  Chihrik.  He  was 
now,  once  more,  brought  to  Tabriz  and  tried  by 
judges  who  were  bent  on  his  condemnation.  The 
proceedings  were  as  farcical  and  undignified  as 
those  to  which  he  had  been  subjected  on  a  former 
occasion.  In  spite  of  all  their  threats,  he  per- 
sistently maintained  that  he  was  the  Imam  Mahdi. 
His  judges  objected  to  his  claims,  on  the  ground 
that  the  Imam,  whose  return  they  awaited,  would 
come  as  a  mighty  conqueror,  to  slay  and  subdue 
infidels  and  establish  Islam  throughout  the  world. 
To  this  the  Bab  replied:  "In  this  manner  have 
the  prophets  always  been  doubted.  The  Jews 
were  expecting  the  promised  Messiah  when  Jesus 
appeared  in  their  midst ;  and  yet  they  rejected  and 
slew  him,  because  they  fancied  the  Messiah  must 
come  as  a  great  conqueror  and  king,  to  re-establish 
the  faith  of  Moses,  and  give  it  currency  through- 
out the  world." 

The  Bab  and  his  followers,  no  doubt,  knew  as 
well  as  his  judges  that  his  sentence  was  prede- 
termined; it  cannot,  however,  be  doubted  that  the 

200 


B  A  B I  S  M 

authorities  entertained  some  hopes  of  making 
the  Bab  recant  by  means  of  threats  or  promises. 
At  length,  finding  these  of  no  avail,  they  passed  the 
fatal  sentence,  and  the  Bab  was  led  back  to  prison, 
to  spend  his  last  night  in  company  with  two  faith- 
ful disciples,  who  were  condemned  to  die  with  him. 

On  the  morning  of  July  9,  1850,  Mirza  Ah"  Mo- 
hammad the  Bab,  Aka  Mohammad  AH,  and  Sayyid 
Husayn  of  Yezd  were  dragged  through  the  crowded 
streets  and  bazaars  of  Tabriz. '  This  pitiful  proces- 
sion lasted  many  hours,  in  the  course  of  which 
Sayyid  Husayn  fell  to  the  ground  from  exhaustion 
and  pain.  He  was  then  told  that,  should  he  now 
recant,  he  might  have  his  pardon.  Thereupon — 
whether  in  a  moment  of  weakness,  or,  as  the  Babis 
declare,  at  the  command  of  the  Bab  himself,  in  order 
that  he  might  convey  a  last  message  from  the  master 
to  the  faithful — he  bought  his  pardon  at  the  price 
of  renunciation  of  the  cause,  and  escaped  to  Tehe- 
ran, where  two  years  later  he  suffered  martyrdom. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  two  prisoners  at  the  spot 
appointed  for  their  execution,  they  were  suspended, 
by  means  of  ropes  passed  under  their  armpits,  to 
staples  set  in  a  wall.  As  the  order  was  given  to 
fire  the  first  volley,  the  Bab  was  heard  to  say  to  his 
companion:  "Verily,  thou  art  with  me  in  Para- 
dise!" But  when  the  smoke  of  the  volley,  which 
had  temporarily  hidden  the  two  victims,  cleared 
away,  it  was  discovered  that  while  the  body  of 
Aka  Mohammad  Ali  hung  lifeless  from  the  staples, 
riddled  with  bullets,  the  Bab  had  disappeared,  and 

201 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  ends  of  the  cords  which  had  supported  him 
were  alone  visible,  the  cords  having  been  severed 
by  bullets  just  above  where  the  victim's  arms  had 
been.  Here  seemed  to  be  a  miracle  indeed.  The 
crowd  began  to  murmur  their  expression  of  amaze- 
ment and  were  prepared  to  believe  anything.  Had 
the  Bab  managed  at  this  moment  to  get  away  to 
some  place  of  concealment,  he  would  immediately 
have  added  to  his  following  the  whole  population 
of  Tabriz,  and  soon  after  the  whole  of  Persia.  The 
destinies  of  the  house  of  Kajar,  nay,  of  Islam  itself, 
hung  in  the  balance  against  the  new  faith.  Un- 
fortunately, however,  for  his  cause,  the  Bab  had 
no  time  to  realize  this;  he  was  as  much  surprised 
as  the  people,  and,  instead  of  attempting  to  hide, 
he  ran  by  a  first  impulse  to  the  neighboring  guard- 
house, where  he  was  soon  discovered.  Even  now, 
for  a  few  moments,  the  people  were  still  ready  to 
believe  in  a  miracle;  no  one  dared  approach  him, 
for  was  not  his  person  inviolate?  The  situation 
was,  however,  saved,  as  situations  so  often  are 
saved,  by  the  action  of  a  headstrong  fool.  A 
soldier,  catching  sight  of  the  Bab,  rushed  in  upon 
him  and  dealt  him  a  blow  with  his  sword;  and, 
so  soon  as  the  people  saw  blood  flowing  from  the 
wound  thus  inflicted  on  the  unresisting  victim, 
their  doubts  and  fears  were  at  an  end,  and  the 
Bab's  death  was  soon  accomplished.  Thus  died 
the  great  prophet-martyr  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  having,  during  a  period 
of  six  brief  years,  of  which  three  were  spent  in 

202 


BABISM 

confinement,  attracted  to  his  person  and  won  for 
his  faith  thousands  of  devoted  men  and  women 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  Persia,  and 
having  laid  the  foundations  of  a  new  religion 
destined  to  become  a  formidable  rival  to  Islam. 

His  wonderful  life  needs  no  comment.  If  ever 
a  life  spoke  for  itself,  it  is  the  Bab's,  with  its  sim- 
plicity, integrity,  and  unswerving  devotion  to  the 
truth  that  was  born  in  him.  Though  we  of  the 
West  may  not  appreciate  many  details  of  his  teach- 
ing, and  though  we  may  fail  to  be  attracted  by  a 
faith  in  which  the  niceties  of  language,  the  mys- 
teries of  numbers,  and  the  like  play  so  important  a 
part,  yet  none  of  us  can  help  admiring  the  life 
of  the  founder  of  this  religion,  for  in  it  there  is 
neither  flaw  nor  blemish.  He  felt  the  truth  in  him, 
and  in  the  proclamation  of  that4  truth  he  moved 
neither  hand  nor  foot  to  spare  himself,  but  un- 
flinchingly submitted  to  all  manner  of  injustice 
and  persecution,  and,  finally,  to  an  ignominious 
death.  That  he  should  have  attracted  thousands 
to  his  cause  is  perhaps  not  a  matter  of  such  great 
surprise  in  a  country  like  Persia,  where  all  are 
naturally  disposed  towards  religious  speculation, 
and  ever  ready  to  examine  a  "new  thing";  but  his 
influence  penetrated  deeper  than  their  curiosit}7 
and  their  minds — it  reached  their  hearts  and  in- 
spired them  with  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  renuncia- 
tion, and  devotion  as  remarkable  and  as  admirable 
as  his  own. 

Our  sketch  of  the  Bab's  life  has,  of  necessity, 
203 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

been  brief,  but  enough  has,  perhaps,  been  told  of 
his  career  to  suggest  to  all  readers  a  comparison 
with  the  life  of  Christ.  Those  whose  curiosity  or 
sympathy  may  lead  them  to  study  the  Bab's  life 
in  full  detail  will  certainly  not  fail  to  notice  in 
many  places  the  striking  similarity  which  these 
two  lives  offer. 

In  returning  to  our  narrative,  we  find  the  last, 
and  by  no  means  the  least,  striking  of  the  coin- 
cidences referred  to.  For  the  Bab,  too,  had  his 
Joseph  of  Arimathaea.  The  bodies  of  the  two 
victims  were  thrown  outside  the  city  walls,  to  be 
devoured  by  dogs  and  jackals,  and  a  guard  was  set 
over  them  to  insure  against  their  being  buried. 
But,  by  night,  a  certain  wealthy  Babi,  named 
Sulayman  Khan,  came  with  a  few  armed  com- 
panions, and  offered  the  guards  the  choice  of  gold 
or  the  sword.  The  guards  accepted  the  gold,  and 
allowed  Sulayman  Khan  to  carry  off  the  body  of 
the  Bab,  which,  after  he  had  wrapped  it  in  fine 
silk,  he  secretly  conveyed  to  Teheran. 

If  the  Persian  government  imagined  that,  by 
putting  to  death  the  Bab,  they  would  put  a  stop 
to  the  religious  movement  of  which  he  was  the  head, 
they  were  greatly  mistaken.  The  fortitude  dis- 
played by  the  Bab  at  his  execution  served  only  as  a 
stimulant  to  the  devotion  and  courage  of  his  fol- 
lowers; and  thus  the  government,  in  ordering  the 
death  of  this  innocent  man,  defeated  their  own 
ends  and  gave  fresh  impetus  to  the  movement  they 
hoped  to  quell,  and  doubtless  added  thousands  of 

204 


BABISM 

converts  to  the  "new  religion."  The  year  1850 
witnessed  the  spilling  of  much  Babi  blood.  The 
tragic  story  of  Shaykh  Tabarsi  was  re-enacted  in 
two  different  quarters  of  Persia,  and  in  Teheran 
seven  Babis  were  "  martyred  "  in  cold  blood  at  the 
instigation  of  the  prime  -  minister.  Persecutions 
went  on  steadily  throughout  the  country,  and  the 
Babis  were  obliged  to  maintain  the  utmost  secrecy, 
being  continually  in  danger  of  their  lives. 

In  August,  1852,  an  event  occurred  which  cannot 
be  regarded  as  other  than  a  blot  in  the  Babi  annals. 
Three  young  and  overzealous  Babis,  mastered  by 
an  uncontrollable  desire  for  vengeance  on  the 
monarch  who  had  permitted  the  execution  of  their 
beloved  master,  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  on 
the  life  of  Shah  Nasir-ud-Din.  This  act  not  only 
resulted  in  the  deaths  of  the  would-be  assassins, 
but  led  to  the  adoption,  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment, of  the  most  rigorous  system  of  inquisition, 
persecution,  and  torture  of  their  coreligionists. 
Vigorous  search  was  instituted  by  the  police  in 
all  parts  of  Persia  to  discover  Babis,  and  in  Teheran 
some  forty  of  them  were  surprised  in  the  house  of 
Sulayman  Khan,  of  whom  we  have  already  spoken. 
Most  of  them,  after  bravely  enduring  ghastly  tort- 
ures, were  put  to  a  cruel  death ;  so  appalling  were 
the  modes  of  torture  to  which  these  brave  men 
and  women  patiently  submitted  that  we  refrain 
from  describing  them.  Among  the  five  or  six 
who  were  spared  was  Baha  Ullah,  of  whom  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  speak  presently.  Among  the 

205 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

martyrs  were  Sulayman  Khan,  Sayyid  Husayn 
of  Yezd,  who,  since  he  had,  at  any  rate  in  appear- 
ance, renounced  his  master  two  years  previously, 
had  been  eager  for  martyrdom,  and  Kurrat  ul- 
Ayn,  who  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  figures  in 
Babi  history.  We  regret  that,  owing  to  the  exi- 
gencies of  space,  we  are  unable  here  to  describe  the 
career  of  this  truly  great  woman,  whose  life  and 
death  would  call  forth  our  unbounded  admiration, 
to  whatever  age  or  country  she  had  belonged.  Our 
wonder  and  our  admiration  must  increase  a  hun- 
dredfold when  we  remember  that  she  lived  in  a  coun- 
try where  for  centuries  women  had  been  kept  in 
the  background  of  the  harem,  and  where  they 
lose  honor  by  appearing  in  public.  She  was  a 
woman  of  distinguished  parentage,  remarkable 
alike  for  her  beauty  and  her  learning.  Perhaps 
it  was  the  Bab's  aim  to  ameliorate  the  position  of 
women  in  Persia  that  first  aroused  her  interest 
in  his  faith ;  however  this  may  be,  she  soon  became, 
and  continued  till  her  tragic  and  noble  death,  one 
of  the  most  devoted  and  active  of  the  Bab's  disciples, 
and  was  reckoned,  as  we  have  seen,  among  the 
eighteen  "  Letters." 

Though  it  cannot  be  maintained  that  these 
would-be  assassins  of  the  Shah  were  the  first  to 
give  a  political  color  to  the  movement,  it  is  certain 
that  their  action  not  merely  embittered  the  ill-feeling 
of  the  government  and  the  clergy  towards  the  Babis, 
but  also  furnished  a  plausible  excuse  for  the  adop- 
tion of  even  stronger  measures  than  had  hitherto 

206 


BABISM 

been  employed  to  destroy  the  sect,  root  and  branch. 
Thus,  in  spite  of  the  utmost  secrecy  which  the 
Babis  preserved  among  themselves,  they  could 
never  feel  secure  from  one  day  to  another  within 
the  Shah's  realms.  It  was  on  this  account  that 
their  leaders  now  deemed  it  wise  to  fly  the  coun- 
try, and  betake  themselves  to  a  voluntary  exile 
in  Turkish  territory;  and  Bagdad  now  became 
the  heart  and  centre  of  the  Babi  movement. 

At  this  time  the  head  of  the  community  and 
chief  "  Letter  of  the  Unity  "  was  a  certain  Mirza 
Yahya,  better  known  by  the  appellation  of  Subh- 
i-Ezel,  or  the  "Dawn  of  Eternity." 

Owing  to  the  continued  persecutions  of  Babis  in 
Persia,  the  little  colony  of  exiles  in  Bagdad  was 
constantly  receiving  additions  to  its  numbers. 
In  order  to  protect  themselves  effectually  against 
the  Persian  government,  they  enrolled  themselves 
as  Turkish  subjects;  while  their  exemplary  be- 
havior was  rewarded  by  kind  treatment  at  the 
hands  of  the  Ottoman  authorities. 

In  1864,  at  the  instigation  of  the  Persian  govern- 
ment, which  objected  to  their  proximity  to  the 
frontier,  they  were  removed  first  to  Constantinople 
and  shortly  afterwards  to  Adrianople.  It  was  in 
this  town  that  an  important  schism  occurred  in  the 
Babi  community,  which  has  never  since  healed. 

During  the  first  fourteen  years  of  exile — that  is, 
from  1850  to  1864 — Subh-i-Ezel  was  the  nominal 
head  of  the  Babis  and  vicegerent  of  the  Bab.  That 
he  received  this  office  from  the  Bab  himself  seems, 

207 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

from  documentary  and  other  evidence,  to  be  beyond 
dispute.     He  laid  no  claim  to  prophetic  rank. 

Early  in  1853  an  elder  half-brother  of  his,  named 
Beha,  fled  from  Persia  and  joined  the  community 
in  Bagdad,  having,  as  we  have  said,  come  very 
near  to  martyrdom  in  the  Teheran  massacre  which 
followed  the  attempt  on  the  Shah's  life.  Subh- 
i-Ezel,  while  at  Bagdad,  led  a  life  of  comparative 
seclusion,  and  trusted  to  Beha  the  business  of  inter- 
viewing disciples  and  corresponding  with  the  Babis 
in  Persia.  At  this  time,  Beha  certainly  admitted 
the  supremacy  of  Subh-i-Ezel,  and  claimed  no  su- 
periority over  his  coreligionists;  but  certain  pas- 
sages in  a  work  called  the  Ikan,  which  he  wrote 
while  at  Bagdad,  leave  room  for  the  supposition 
that  he  already  contemplated  the  idea  of  putting 
forward  that  claim  which  not  long  after  forever 
divided  the  Babis  into  two  rival  factions,  the  Ezelis 
and  the  Behais.  What  were  his  actual  thoughts 
and  ambitions  with  regard  to  himself  it  is  impos- 
sible to  say ;  we  only  know  that,  in  1866—67,  while 
he  was  living  with  his  exiled  comrades  in  Adri- 
anople,  Beha  announced  that  he  was  "  He  whom 
God  shall  manifest,"  so  often  alluded  to  by  the 
Bab  in  his  writings. 

Now,  had  Subh-i-Ezel  been  disposed  to  accept 
this  claim  of  Beha,  it  is  not  improbable  that  his 
example  would  have  been  followed  by  the  whole 
community.  Subh-i-Ezel,  however,  absolutely  de- 
nied Beha's  claim,  arguing  that  "He  whom  God 
shall  manifest"  could  not  be  expected  until  the 

208 


B  A  B I  S  M 

religion  founded  by  the  Bab,  with  its  attendant 
laws  and  institutions,  had  obtained  currency  at 
least  among  some  of  the  nations  of  the  earth.  It 
was  inconceivable  that  one  revelation  should  be 
so  quickly  eclipsed  by  another.  He  found  many 
Babis  who  concurred  in  his  views,  and  were  willing 
to  remain  faithful  to  him  as  the  legitimate  head 
of  the  Babi  Church.  The  majority  of  the  Babis, 
however,  accepted  the  manifestation  of  Beha,  and, 
in  the  course  of  time,  their  numbers  have  steadily 
increased,  while  the  following  of  Subh-i-Ezel  is 
constantly  diminishing.  In  fact,  to-day  it  is  a 
comparatively  rare  occurrence  to  meet  with  an 
Ezeli,  and  one  which  never  came  within  the  ex- 
perience of  the  present  writer  while  travelling  in 
Persia  or  central  Asia. 

The  dissensions  between  the  rival  factions  grew 
so  fierce  that,  in  1868,  the  Turkish  government, 
fearing  lest  this  rupture  might  lead  to  public  dis- 
orders, determined  to  separate  the  rival  claimants 
to  supremacy.  They,  therefore,  sent  Subh-i-Ezel 
to  Famagusta,  in  Cyprus,  and  Beha  to  Acre,  which 
two  localities  have  ever  since  remained  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Ezelis  and  Behais  respectively.* 

It  will  not  be  necessary  in  this  place  to  enter  into 
the  question  of  the  merits  of  Beha's  claims  or 
Subh-i-Ezel' s  position.  The  matter  has  been  fulty 
set  forth  by  Mr.  E.  G.  Browne  in  his  various  works 

*  A  fe\v  Behais  were  sent  to  Cyprus  and  a  few  Ezelis  to  Acre. 
The  latter  were  murdered  soon  after  their  arrival  by  some  Behais, 
but  probably-  without  the  knowledge  of  Beha. 

o  209 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

on  the  Babi  movement,  especially  in  the  New 
History.  Only  a  very  small  proportion  of  the 
Babis  to-day  belong  to  the  Ezeli  faction;  so  it  is 
Acre  which  now  becomes  and  remains  the  chief 
centre  of  interest  in  the  subsequent  history  of  this 
religion. 

It  would,  in  reality,  be  more  accurate  to  speak 
of  the  vast  Babi  community  which  looks  to  Acre 
for  guidance  as  Behais  rather  than  as  Babis ;  for, 
in  many  respects,  their  beliefs  bear  a  relation  to 
the  teaching  of  the  Bab  very  similar  to  that  of 
Christianity  to  the  Old  Testament;  for  the  reve- 
lation of  Beha  practically  abrogated  that  of  the 
Bab.  But  it  may  be  maintained  that  Bella's  teach- 
ing was  even  more  revolutionary  than  that  of 
Christ;  for,  whereas  Christ  came  to  fulfil  the  law, 
and  whereas  the  Old  Testament  came  to  be  em- 
bodied in  the  Christian  Scriptures,  Beha  has  given 
his  followers  a  new  Bible  which  has  rendered  su- 
perfluous the  Bayan. 

The  written  works  of  Beha  are  numerous,  and 
an  authorized  edition  of  them  has  been  lithograph- 
ed in  Bombay  in  three  volumes.  Of  these,  the 
Kitab  -  i  -  Akdas  is,  in  many  respects,  the  most 
interesting,  and  it  has  the  best  claim  to  be  regarded 
as  the  Behai  Bible.  Beha  also  wrote  a  very  large 
number  of  smaller  treatises  and  letters  of  exhorta- 
tion and  encouragement,  which  are  known  among 
the  faithful  as  "  alwah  "  (singular,  "  laich  "),  or  tab- 
lets. All  these  alwah  emanating  from  Beha  were 
and  are  caref  ully  treasured  up  and  diligentty  copied. 

210 


BABISM 

They  were  usually  addressed  to  some  prominent 
member  of  a  local  community,  and,  to  be  the  re- 
cipient of  one  of  them,  however  brief,  was  considered 
a  very  high  honor. 

From  the  date  of  Beha's  arrival  in  Acre,  his 
writings  begin  to  assume  a  very  different  tone  and 
character  from  those  which  pervade  the  Ikan  above 
referred  to.  Seeing  that  the  Kitab  -  i  -  Akd as  *  is 
not  only  the  most  important  of  Beha's  writings, 
but  that  it  contains  a  resume  of  all  his  teaching, 
it  is  fitting  in  this  place  to  present  the  reader  with 
a  brief  account  of  some  of  its  contents. 

The  book  begins  with  instructions  as  to  religious 
observances.  Prayers  are  to  be  said  three  times 
a  day.  The  worshipper  is  to  turn  his  face  towards 
"the  Most  Holy  Region,"  by  which  Acre  is  ap- 
parently intended.  All  congregational  prayer  is 
abolished,  except  in  the  case  of  the  burial  service. 
The  Babi  year,  which,  as  we  have  said,  contains 
nineteen  months  of  nineteen  days  each,  begins  on 
the  Persian  New  Year's  day.  The  year  contains 
366  days  in  all,  five  intercalary  days  being  added. 
Fasting  from  sunrise  to  sunset  is  ordained  during 
the  last  month  of  the  year. 

Mendicity  is  prohibited  in  the  following  terms: 
"The  most  hateful  of  mankind  before  God  is  he 

*  This  book  was  at  one  time  difficult  to  obtain,  as  it  only  exist- 
ed in  manuscript.  It  has,  however,  been  since  lithographed  in 
Bombay,  and  is  therefore  fairly  accessible.  It  is  composed  in 
Arabic.  For  the  following  summary  of  contents  I  am  indebted 
lo  an  article  b3^  Mr.  E.  G.  Browne,  without  whose  admirable  writ- 
ings we  should  know  very  little  of  Babism  in  its  late  developments. 

211 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

who  sits  and  begs ;  take  hold  of  the  robe  of  means, 
relying  on  God,  the  Cause  of  causes."  The  use 
of  knives  and  forks  in  eating,  instead  of  the  hands, 
is  enjoined.  Cleanliness  is  insisted  on. 

Marriage  is  enjoined  on  all.  Wives  who  for  a 
period  of  nine  months  have  had  no  news  of  their 
husbands  are  permitted  to  marry  again,  but  if  they 
are  patient  it  is  better,  "  since  God  loves  those  who 
are  patient."  If  quarrels  arise  between  a  man  and 
his  wife,  he  is  not  to  divorce  her  at  once,  but  must 
wait  for  a  whole  year,  so  that,  perhaps,  he  may 
become  reconciled  to  her.  The  kings  of  the  earth 
are  exhorted  to  adopt  and  spread  the  new  faith. 
Wine  and  opium  are  forbidden.  The  sacred  books 
are  to  be  read  regularly,  but  never  so  long  as  to 
cause  weariness.  Enemies  are  to  be  forgiven,  nor 
must  evil  be  met  with  evil. 

In  conclusion,  we  must  quote  a  very  remarka- 
ble passage"'1'  with  regard  to  future  manifestations, 
which  is  noteworthy  in  regard  to  the  position  as- 
sumed by  his  son,  Abbas  Efendi,  to-day :  "  Who- 
soever lays  claim  to  a  matter  (i.  e.,  a  mission),  ere 
one  thousand  full  years  have  passed,  verily  he  is  a 
lying  impostor." 

Beha  died  in  1892,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven, 
in  Acre,  which  town  he  had  never  been  permitted 
to  leave.  He  was  here  visited  by  the  faithful,  who 
regarded  Acre  as  an  object  of  pilgrimage,  and  also 
by  inquirers.  He  was  regarded  by  the  faithful  as 
God  Almighty  himself,  and  the  respect  and  rev- 

*  To  be  found  on  pp.  13  and  14  of  the  lithographed  edition. 
212 


BABISM 

erence  ihey  paid  him  were  unbounded.  He  had 
four  sons,  of  whom  the  two  eldest  were  Abbas 
Efendi  and  Aga  Mohammad  Ali. 

On  the  death  of  Beha,  Abbas  Efendi,  as  the  eld- 
est son,  became  the  spiritual  head  of  the  Behais; 
though  it  appears  that  his  claims  to  this  position 
were  not  admitted  by  all,  for  he  found,  at  the  first, 
a  rival  in  the  person  of  a  certain  Aga  Mirza  Jan,  of 
Kashan,  who  had  been  the  amanuensis  of  Beha. 
This  rivalry  did  not,  however,  have  any  appreciable 
effect  on  the  position  of  Abbas  Efendi,  who  receives, 
at  any  rate  from  the  vast  majorit}^  of  the  Behais  of 
to-day,  a  veneration  equal  to  that  accorded  to  his 
father. 

Aga  Mohammad  Ali,  since  his  father's  death, 
has  lived  a  life  of  ictirement  and  seclusion.  It 
is  known  that  he  was  unable  to  approve  the  course 
adopted  by  his  brother,  Abbas  Efendi;  but  he  has 
always  strenuously  avoided  an  open  quarrel  with 
him,  and  has  refused  to  give  written  answers  to  the 
large  number  of  Babis  who  were  anxious  to  know 
his  views.  His  main  object  has  been  to  avoid  any 
further  division  in  the  Babi  Church. 

In  conclusion,  a  few  words  must  be  said  in  re- 
gard to  the  whereabouts  and  condition  of  the  Babis 
at  the  present  day.  It  is  impossible  to  obtain 
reliable  statistics  as  to  their  actual  numbers,  but 
one  million  is  probably  near  the  mark.  The  major- 
ity inhabit  the  large  towns  of  Persia,  such  as  Te- 
heran, Ispahan,  Yezd,  and  Kerman.  Persecutions 
are  nowadays  of  rare  occurrence,  though  the  Babis 

213 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

can  never  feel  really  secure  within  Persian  territory, 
partly  on  account  of  the  political  stigma  which 
attaches  to  their  name,  and  partly  on  account  of 
the  suspicion  with  which  they  are  regarded  by  the 
Mullas.  Three  years  ago,  Teheran  alone  was  said 
to  contain  upward  of  ten  thousand  Babis,  and  no 
doubt  their  numbers  have  greatly  increased  in 
the  interval.  It  is  hard  to  say  precisely  what 
degree  of  caution  they  consider  requisite,  or  to  what 
extent  they  are  known  as  Babis  to  the  authorities 
and  the  populace  in  general.  Certain  it  is  that 
many  distinguished  persons  are  known  by  all  to 
belong  to  this  sect,  and  that  they  are  on  this  ac- 
count put  to  no  apparent  inconvenience.  The 
Babis  are  law-abiding  citizens,  and  ply  their  busi- 
ness on  an  equal  footing  with  Mussulmans.  No 
Babi,  however,  who  is  knowrn  to  be  such,  is  allowed 
to  enter  a  mosque.  They  have  no  places  of  worship 
of  their  own,  but  hold  their  meetings,  generally 
after  sundown,  in  the  houses  of  various  members 
of  the  community.  The  present  writer  has  at- 
tended many  of  these  gatherings,  and  has  always 
come  away  deeply  impressed  by  the  simplicity, 
earnestness,  and  courtesy  of  the  Babis.  At  these 
meetings,  a  practical  example  of  the  Babi  principle 
of  equality  is  to  be  seen.  Here  we  find,  side  by 
side,  a  learned  doctor,  an  officer,  a  merchant,  and 
a  servant,  sitting,  as  the  Persians  say,  "on  four 
knees,"  intent  on  discussing  the  latest  news  of  the 
Babis  in  other  parts  of  the  world;  listening  to  the 
recitation  of  a  poem  by  some  Babi  poet,  or  hearing 

214 


BABISM 

the  contents  of  the  latest  lawh  from  Acre.  Dur- 
ing the  reading  of  these  letters  the  strictest  silence 
prevails,  and  pipes  and  cigarettes  are  for  the  time 
discarded.  In  Turkish  and  Russian  territory  the 
position  of  the  Babis  is  one  of  comparative  im- 
munity. Askabad,  in  Transcaspia,  is  a  very  im- 
portant centre,  and  it  is  there,  perhaps,  that  the 
followers  of  Beha  enjoy  the  greatest  freedom. 

Finally,  we  must  mention  the  recent  spread  of 
this  religious  movement  in  non-Mohammedan 
countries,  which  is  practically  confined  to  the 
United  States  of  America.  From  the  latest  in- 
formation, it  would  appear  that  no  less  than  three 
thousand  Americans  now  subscribe  to  the  new  faith. 
The  propaganda  first  began  in  1893,  at  the  World's 
Congress  of  Religions  in  Chicago,  when  a  certain 
Babi,  named  Ibrahim  Kheirallah,  who  had  come 
to  the  United  States  on  business,  gave  a  course  of 
fifteen  lectures  on  Mohammedanism  and  the  va- 
rious movements  which  had  grown  out  of  it.  In 
the  course  of  these  "lessons,"  he  continually  re- 
ferred to  the  teachings  of  the  Bab,  and  in  a  short 
time  he  is  said  to  have  secured  over  one  hundred 
"believers."  He  next  proceeded  to  New  York 
City,  where  he  published  his  lectures.  Such  were 
the  beginnings  of  Babism  in  the  United  States. 

Of  the  subsequent  history  of  the  movement  in 
America  it  is  at  present  hard  to  speak.  At  all 
events,  it  seems  that  here,  too,  the  division  between 
Abbas  Efendi  and  Aga  Mohammad  Ali  has  been  at 
work,  and  that  the  first  Babi  missionary,  Kheiral- 

215 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

lah,  belongs  to  the  party  of  the  latter.  The  follow- 
ers of  Abbas  Ef  endi,  who  believe  him  in  all  sincerity 
and  devotedness  of  faith  to  be  the  incarnation  of 
God,  are  known  as  the  Sabitis,  or  the  "Firm," 
while  those  who  deny  his  claims  have  received 
from  their  opponents  the  name  of  Nakizis,  or  "  Ad- 
versaries." The  principal  Babi  centres  in  the 
United  States  are  as  follows :  Chicago,  about  one 
thousand;  Kenosha,  Wis.,  from  four  hundred  to 
five  hundred;  New  York  City,  about  four  hundred; 
Washington,  Baltimore,  Philadelphia;  Wilming- 
ton and  Bellevue,  Del.;  Newark,  Fanwood,  and 
Hoboken,  N.  J. ;  Brooklyn  and  Ithaca,  N.  Y. ; 
Detroit,  Mich. ;  Boston,  Cincinnati,  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  Denver. 

Babism,  though  still,  as  it  were,  in  its  infancy, 
is  said  to  count  to-day  over  one  million  adherents, 
and  the  possibilities  of  its  future  success  are  in- 
finite, for,  in  spite  of  internal  schisms  and  external 
disabilities,  there  is  no  falling  off  either  in  the 
/  number  of  fresh  converts  or  in  the  religious  fervor 
of  believers. 

E.  DENISON  Ross. 


JEWS   AND   JUDAISM    IN   THE 
NINETEENTH    CENTURY 


JEWS    AND   JUDAISM   IN  THE 
NINETEENTH    CENTURY 


THE  light  of  the  nineteenth  century,  passing 
through  the  Jewish  prism,  throws  a  peculiar  spec- 
trum upon  the  screen  of  modern  history.  The 
colors  are  not  exactly  those  of  the  rainbow,  nor 
is  the  prism  akin  to  the  solid,  polished,  and  trans- 
parent glass  through  which  the  light  is  beauti- 
fully separated;  it  is  the  troubled  Jewish  mind 
through  which  it  passes,  and  the  image  seen  on  the 
screen  is  accordingly  different.  It  begins  with  the 
roseate  hues  of  hope,  to  which  succeed  the  deeper 
red  tints  of  enthusiasm,  and  it  closes  with  the  yellow 
of  despair.  To  drop  the  metaphor,  a  survey  of  the 
sequence  of  vicissitudes  through  which  the  Jews 
have  passed  during  the  last  hundred  years  is  like 
writing  the  history  of  the  most  noteworthy  changes 
in  the  history  of  modern  civilization,  and  of  the 
different  moods  and  ways  in  which  they  have 
affected  one  peculiarly  receptive  portion  of  human 
society. 

The  Jews  do  not  merely  live  in  the  midst  of  other 
nations,  but  they  also  live  with  those  nations  and 

219 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

share  with  them  in  all  the  emotions  of  the  spirit 
and  in  all  the  trials  of  the  body.  It  is  a  fallacy 
to  assume,  as  is  often  done,  that  the  Jews  live  a 
secluded  life,  and  that  the  Jews  of  one  country 
are  identical  in  every  respect  with  those  of  other 
countries,  whose  civilization  and  the  conditions 
of  whose  life  are  dissimilar.  The  differences  be- 
tween the  German  and  the  French  Christian  will 
be  found  to  exist  also  between  the  German  and 
the  French  Jew,  though  not  manifested  in  the 
same  manner.  Assimilation  has  constantly  been 
going  on,  and  participation  in  the  same  national 
characteristics,  between  Jew  and  Christian,  though 
not  on  identical,  but  at  least  upon  parallel  lines. 
The  study  of  the  Jew  in  various  countries  brings 
this  fact  out  forcibly.  We  are  sure  to  find  in  each 
a  more  or  less  faithful  reflex  of  the  national  pecu- 
liarities characteristic  of  each  of  those  countries; 
a  reflex,  but  not  an  exact  copy;  a  translation,  but 
not  a  facsimile.  In  this  process  of  adaptation  from 
the  neighbor  the  original  pattern  had  passed 
through  the  mould  of  the  Jewish  mind,  it  had  been 
seen  from  a  specific  visual  angle,  and  it  had  been 
reproduced  slightly  differing  from  its  prototype; 
it  bears  now  the  stamp  of  Jewish  individualism. 
But  a  close  scrutiny  will  reveal  the  identity  in 
every  essential  feature  with  that  primitive  original. 
If  I  should  attempt  to  sum  up  in  a  short  sentence 
the  whole  history  of  Jewish  life  in  this  century, 
I  would  say  that  it  has  been  the  awakening  and 
strengthening  of  self-consciousness  and  the  desire 

220 


JEWS    AND    JUDAISM 

of  securing  absolute  equality  with  non-Jews. 
This  tendency  has  asserted  itself  in  all  the  walks 
of  life,  in  politics  as  well  as  in  science  and  religion. 
In  their  eagerness  the  Jews  may  have  sometimes 
overshot  the  mark  and  produced  the  semblance 
of  aggressiveness.  The  Jews  have  practical^  re- 
discovered themselves,  their  past,  and  their  posi- 
tion among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  They  have 
come  out  of  the  artificial  seclusion  in  which  they 
had  been  kept  for  the  last  three  or  four  centuries, 
and  they  at  once  acted  upon  the  motto  "  Nihil 
humanum  a  me  alienum  puto."  This  participa- 
tion in  the  general  movement  was  only  gradual, 
and  did  not  occur  in  all  the  countries  where  the 
Jews  lived  at  the  same  time  and  to  the  same 
extent.  It  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  political 
emancipation  of  the  nations  themselves,  and  of 
the  new  tendencies  that  each  nation  evolved. 

Movement,  agitation,  must  not  be  taken,  how- 
ever, as  indicating  always  a  development  making 
only  for  progress :  it  is  as  often  retrograde  as  pro- 
gressive; it  sometimes  leads  from  one  extreme  to 
another.  Like  the  waters  of  the  sea,  the  waves 
mount  until  they  reach  the  highest  crest,  only  to 
flow  downward,  and  the  movement  is,  after  all, 
stationary,  depression  following  upheaval.  Thus 
it  happens  with  the  development  of  Judaism  in  this 
century.  In  order  to  delineate  the  general  drift  of 
this  movement  I  will  treat  it  from  the  point  of  view 
of  political  disabilities,  scientific  revival,  religious 
changes,  and,  lastl}7,  national  tendencies.  These 

221 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

are  neither  all  synchronous  nor  simultaneous. 
The  progress  in  one  direction  often  means  retro- 
gression in  the  other;  without  being  mutually 
exclusive,  they  are  not  all  on  the  same  plane,  but 
relieve  one  another  in  turns. 

Paradoxical  as  it  may  sound,  it  is  none  the  less 
true  that,  at  the  end  of  the  last  century,  the  Jews 
enjoyed  the  full  protection  of  the  law  only  in  France 
and  in  Turkey.  In  fact,  they  have  never  suffered 
any  persecution  in  the  latter  country,  and  the 
record  of  the  Turks  has  never  been  stained  by 
any  such  acts  of  persecution  as  all  the  nations  of 
Europe  have  gloried  in  in  the  past.  In  France,  the 
change  in  the  political  position  of  the  Jews  was 
a  corollary  to  the  principles  of  equality  and  fra- 
ternity proclaimed  by  the  great  Revolution.  It 
was  not  an  act  of  cool  calculation  and  firm  de- 
termination to  wipe  out  the  injustice  committed 
against  the  Jews  for  so  long  a  period;  but  the 
rush  of  enthusiasm  evoked  by  the  grand  orator}7 
of  Mirabeau,  and  seconded  by  the  Abbe  Gregoire, 
carried  the  assembly  by  storm,  and  the  French 
nation  then  granted  the  Jews  the  first  gift  of  free- 
dom. It  was  the  dawn  of  the  new  light  that  was 
to  shine  upon  the  whole  of  Europe,  the  first  blast  of 
that  spirit  that  threw  down  the  walls  of  feudalism, 
and  opened  the  gates  to  the  new  life  which  hence- 
forth was  to  rule.  This  emancipation  has  thus  the 
character  of  a  gift,  made  in  consequence  of  ab- 
stract theories.  It  is  not  a  concession  wrung  from  a 
reluctant  Toe  by  tlie  superior  force  of  conviction, 

222 


JEWS    AND    JUDAISM 

not  the  result  of  a  long  struggle  between  darkness 
and  light,  not  the  outcome  of  a  long  process  of 
maturing  in  the  mind  and  heart  of  men,  but  came 
only  and  solely  as  a  gift,  irrespective  of  the  merits 
of  the  recipients,  heedless,  and  dependent  upon 
the  transitory  mood  of  the  giver.  But,  whatever  its 
origin  may  have  been,  the  Jews  were  no  less  grate- 
ful for  the  first  definite  break  with  a  terrible  past. 
The  number  of  French  Jews  at  the  time  of  the  Rev- 
olution was  not  very  great.  Most  of  them  lived  in 
Alsace,  and  in  only  a  fewT  of  the  larger  towns  of 
France  were  they  at  all  numerous.  The  fickle 
character  of  this  new  abolition  of  disabilities,  too 
long  endured,  was  shown  by  the  vicissitudes  it  had 
to  go  through,  the  animosities  which  it  raised  when 
the  republic  became  a  monarch}^  under  Napoleon, 
and  the  attempts  which  were  made  to  wreck  the 
whole  work  of  liberation,  or  at  least  to  jeopardize 
its  fair  working.  Thereupon,  Napoleon  called 
together  the  first  public  Jewish  assembly,  known 
as  the  Sanhedrim,  to  which  some  of  the  objections 
and  accusations  which  had  been  raised  were  sub- 
mitted for  examination  and  reply.  I  mention  only 
one  of  these  objections,  as  it  reappears  in  our  days, 
viz. :  the  question  as  to  how  the  Jews  could  reconcile 
their  patriotism  with  the  desire  of  returning  to 
Palestine.  The  answers  these  notables  were  able 
to  give  satisfied  Napoleon,  though  none  of  their 
direct  recommendations  was  carried  out. 

The  importance  of  this  new  departure  lay  in  the 
fact  that  it  threw  open  to  the  Jews,  for  the  first  time, 

223 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  gates  which  had  been  closed  to  them  all  over 
Europe.  They  were  introduced  to  the  new  par- 
liamentary forms  of  modern  life,  to  the  open  dis- 
cussion and  ventilation  of  grievances  and  of  vital 
questions  concerning  them.  In  these  delibera- 
tions of  political  assemblies  they  had  a  voice,  and 
had  no  longer  to  wait  and  hear  the  result  of 
the  deliberations  of  others  upon  their  affairs, 
deciding  upon  their  hopes  and  fears,  upon  the 
measure  of  protection  that  was  to  be  granted 
to  or  withheld  from  them.  For  at  the  beginning 
of  the  century  the  position  of  the  Jews  in  all 
the  other  countries  of  Europe,  always  excepting 
Turkey,  was  full  of  degrading  anomalies.  The 
Ghetto,  originally  an  Italian  invention,  had  been 
naturalized  in  the  German  -  speaking  countries. 
The  German  nation  itself  was  cooped  up  in  air- 
tight and,  if  I  may  coin  the  word,  light-tight 
compartments.  Split  up  into  thirty  or  forty 
small  governments,  with  laws  and  regulations  dif- 
fering one  from  the  other,  these  German  "  states " 
devoted  their  pettifogging  and  pedantic  ingenu- 
ity to  inventing  new  regulations  and  prohibitions 
against  the  Jews,  who  were  living  in  still  smaller 
Ghettos  than  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  of 
these  principalities.  It  would  be  absurd  to  at- 
tempt the  enumeration  of  these  regulations. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  even  marriage  was  not  al- 
lowed; only  a  certain  number  were  permitted 
to  live  in  each  small  community.  There  was 
no  question  of  freedom  of  movement,  none  of  the 

224 


JEWS    AND   JUDAISM 

civil  rights  which  every  stranger  now  enjoys  in 
foreign  countries.  They  had  mostly  to  live  in  a 
circumscribed  area,  to  earn  their  livelihood  by 
certain  fixed  means,  to  follow  a  certain  limited 
number  of  trades  and  vocations.  There  was  no 
freedom  to  travel  from  one  place  to  another  or  to 
reside  outside  the  radius,  the  "Pale,"  prescribed 
by  the  authorities.  Fines  and  taxes  were  im- 
posed with  a  lavish  hand.  The  censor  kept  wratch 
over  all  literary  attempts.  Every  feeling  of  com- 
mon interest  with  the  Gentile  world  outside  was 
crushed  out,  and  it  would  have  been  a  wild  dream 
indeed  for  some  of  the  dwellers  in  those  German 
Ghettos  to  believe  in  a  change  so  sudden  and  so 
radical  as  was  about  to  happen. 

The  triumphal  march  of  Napoleon's  victorious 
armies  swept  away  all  these  artificial  barriers,  and 
let  fresh  air  and  light  in  where  up  to  then  only  the 
ghosts  of  mediaeval  times  used  to  stalk  about  freely. 
The  dawn  of  a  new  era  broke  upon  the  Jews  as  well 
as  upon  all  other  nations.  The  call  to  arms  for 
freedom  from  oppression,  for  liberation  from  feudal 
and  secular  thraldom,  was  heard  by  all  the  nations 
of  Europe,  and  most  of  them  responded  to  that  call. 
New  ideas  were  propagated,  such  as  the  fraterniza- 
tion of  mankind,  equality  before  the  law,  liberty 
of  thought  and  action,  words  and  ideas  up  to  then 
living  in  the  domain  of  philosophic  dreamers. 
Unhampered  by  any  traditional  prejudices  or  vested 
interests,  realizing  to  the  full  the  significance  of 
these  doctrines,  the  Jews  at  once  rallied  to  them. 
P  225 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

It  was  the  first  step  towards  complete  emancipa- 
tion, to  obtaining  an  equal  footing  with  the  rest 
of  the  inhabitants  and  to  the  realization  of  their 
hopes  and  aspirations.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the 
Jews  eagerly  seized  this  opportunity  and  would 
no  longer  allow  the  awakened  self-consciousness 
to  go  to  sleep  again.  The  rest  of  the  time  was 
devoted  mostly  to  strengthen  this  feeling.  A 
continual  war  had  been  waged  against  it  from  the 
moment  that  Napoleon  was  defeated.  The  crudest 
reaction  set  in.  All  the  old  boundaries  were  re- 
erected,  the  old  disabilities  reimposed  upon  the 
Jews.  They  saw  the  walls  of  the  Ghetto  being 
rebuilt,  after  having  tasted  the  sweets  of  free  life 
and  intercourse  with  their  fellow-citizens  of  another 
faith.  The  nations  were  also  again  split  up  into 
small  states,  and  all  the  privileges  granted  under 
stress  of  war  were  being  revoked.  Neither  did 
the  new  democracy  tamely  submit,  nor  did  the 
Jews  view  with  equanimity  the  loss  of  their  re- 
cently acquired  freedom.  This  explains  the  part 
they  thenceforth  took  in  the  struggle  of  the  democ- 
racy and  their  adherence  to  liberalism,  from 
which  alone  they  could  expect  the  redress  of  the 
grievances  which  they  now  felt  more  keenly  than 
at  any  previous  time.  It  also  explains  the  S3Tm- 
pathy  felt  by  prominent  thinkers  among  the  Jews 
with  the  claims  of  labor,  and  their  intuitive  fore- 
sight in  the  treatment  of  the  economical  questions 
which  are  now  dominating  the  civilized  world. 
I  shall  have  to  revert  to  this  part  of  the  modern 

226 


JEWS   AND    JUDAISM 

fabric  of  society,  as  we  are  standing  undoubtedly 
under  the  sign  of  coming  contests  between  capital 
and  labor,  new  problems  are  arising,  and  eco- 
nomic wars  are  threatening  between  nation  and 
nation,  between  state  and  state. 

The  horizon  had  been  greatly  enlarged  during 
the  first  years  of  the  last  century,  and,  with  that 
mental  agility  which  is  the  outcome  of  the  intel- 
lectual training  pursued  by  the  Jews  for  centuries, 
they  at  once  applied  themselves  to  master  the  new 
fields  of  science  opened  to  them.  Questions  which 
had  previously  not  crossed  the  threshold  of  the 
Ghetto  were  now  brought  home  to  the  Jews.  An 
agitation  was  kept  up  to  strengthen  the  position 
once  won.  Need  there  was  for  such  an  agitation, 
for  at  a  given  time  there  were  in  Germany  alone  no 
less  than  thirty-six  separate  legislations  dealing 
with  the  position  of  the  Jews.  Bit  by  bit  they  had 
to  be  demolished  again,  and  only  as  late  as  1870 
the  last  trace  of  the  legal  disabilities  of  the  Jews 
disappeared  in  Prussia,  also  to  be  repealed  soon 
afterwards,  at  least  officially,  in  the  other  smaller 
German  states.  In  France  alone,  though  at 
times  limited  and  threatened,  the  liberties  once 
acquired  were  retained  by  the  Jews.  There  also 
reaction  tried  to  raise  its  head  with  the  restoration 
of  the  monarchy ;  but  the  traditions  of  the  Revolu- 
tion were  too  strong,  and  the  Jews  had  already 
occupied  so  strong  a  position  that  it  was  no  easy 
matter  to  oust  them  from  it.  France  has  remained, 
up  to  a  very  short  time  ago,  the  ideal  country  of 

227 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

freedom  and  liberty  for  the  Jews  all  over  the  Con- 
tinent. There  the  Jews  also  first  identified  them- 
selves entirely  with  the  highest  aspirations  of  the 
French  nation;  and  were  rewarded  by  an  unstint- 
ed recognition  of  civil  and  political  equality.  All 
posts  were  open  to  them,  all  careers  were  now 
the  legitimate  aim  of  the  younger  generation,  and 
they  availed  themselves  full}'  of  these  rights, wrhich 
they  did  not  consider  as  privileges  granted  to  them 
or  some  exceptional  treatment  vouchsafed  in  the 
form  of  a  gift  of  toleration. 

A  w^ord  now  as  to  the  Jews  in  England.  In 
England  all  those  hopes  and  aspirations  of  Euro- 
pean democracy,  freedom  from  mediaeval  trammels, 
equality  before  the  law,  and,  above  all,  the  sense  of 
true  justice  which  pervaded  all  classes  of  society, 
had  been  for  centuries,  I  might  say,  the  common 
property  of  the  nation.  An  ingrained  feeling  of 
justice,  and  a  respect  and  veneration  for  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  unequalled  in  another  country  of  the 
world,  contributed  to  win  in  time  for  the  Jews 
the  full  protection  of  these  admirable  laws.  In- 
cidentally, I  may  remark  that  England,  knowing 
then  as  little  as  it  does  now  the  true  state  of  the 
nations  on  the  Continent,  true  to  her  principles, 
fought,  as  she  imagined,  the  battle  of  liberty, 
and  lent  her  hand  to  crush  Napoleon  under  the 
impression  that  she  was  crushing  tyranny.  In 
fact,  she  assisted  in  rehabilitating  the  worst  form 
of  political  reaction.  Instead  of  one,  she  helped 
to  set  up  numberless  petty  and  worse  tyrannies. 

228 


JEWS    AND    JUDAISM 

I  am  not  referring  here  to  those  wars  against 
Napoleon  waged  in  self-defence,  and  proclaimed 
as  such.  I  am  rather  alluding  to  the  general 
opinion,  to  the  repetition  of  the  assurance,  that  in 
fighting  Napoleon  tyranny  was  crushed.  The 
Jews  knew  better,  and  the  subsequent  upheavals 
in  every  part  of  Europe  showed  that  the  masses 
of  the  down-trodden  people  knew  better.  The 
disabilities  of  the  Jews  in  England  disappeared 
also  after  a  long  struggle.  Success  was  achieved 
by  enlightening  public  opinion  and  by  getting 
the  sympathies  of  the  masses,  which  have  never 
since  been  estranged. 

While  this  evolution  was  taking  place  at  the 
centres  of  civilization,  the  position  of  the  Jews 
in  less-favored  countries  was  on  the  whole  better, 
in  so  far  as  they  were  deluded  by  no  mirage.  The 
nations  in  whose  midst  they  lived  neither  knew 
nor  as  yet  appreciated  the  sweets  of  freedom. 
In  Russia,  especially,  serfdom  had  not  yet  dis- 
appeared, and  in  comparison  to  the  "Souls"  of 
Gogol's  powerful  novel,  the  bodies  of  the  Jews  were 
in  a  better  position.  Nicholas  II.  attempted  some 
reforms,  but  he  carried  them  out  in  a  drastic  man- 
ner ;  he  forced  the  Jews  into  the  ranks  of  the  army, 
and  at  a  given  moment,  finding  them  reluctant 
to  become  life-long  soldiers,  ordered  a  number  of 
young  children  to  be  forcibly  taken  from  their 
parents  and  to  be  brought  up  with  peasants  in 
distant  parts  of  the  country,  to  be  drafted  after- 
wards into  the  army.  It  is  the  very  counter- 

229 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

part  to  the  old  practice  of  the  Turks  to  take 
young  Christian  boys  and  bring  them  up  as 
Mohammedans,  to  form  the  body  of  janizaries. 
I  mention  this  fact,  not  merely  to  show  that  the 
Jews  in  Russia  were  then,  as  now,  at  the  absolute 
mercy  of  the  autocratic  government,  in  some 
respects  very  little  better  treated  than  the  serfs, 
but  also  to  point  to  the  first  cause  of  the  modern 
Jewish  emigration  from  the  east  of  Europe  to  the 
west  and  to  America.  The  "Drang  nach  dem 
Westen"  so  conspicuous  at  the  end  of  ancient 
history,  preceding  the  medieval  period,  was  re- 
peated now  on  a  smaller  scale  by  the  migration 
which  set  in,  which  has  been  going  on  uninter- 
ruptedly and  is  assuming  immense  proportions. 

The  Jewries  of  the  West  became  thus  enlarged  by 
the  new-comers,  and  also  modified  to  a  certain  extent 
by  this  element.  The  number  and  importance  of 
Jewish  communities  increased  everywhere  through 
this  influx  of  new  blood.  There  is  no  greater  mistake 
than  to  imagine  that  this  new  element  was  merely 
the  receiving  one;  that  it  obtained  in  the  West 
more  personal  protection,  greater  liberties,  and 
greater  facilities  for  intellectual  and  social  develop- 
ment; they  were  to  a  great  extent  also  givers. 
The  share  which  they  have  taken  in  the  spiritual 
development  of  the  Jews  in  the  nineteenth  century 
is  by  no  means  inconsiderable,  as  will  become 
evident  later  on  when  I  deal  with  this  aspect  of  our 
problem.  Characteristic  for  this  first  period  is  the 
enormous  spreading  out  of  the  Jews  all  over  Europe, 

230 


JEWS    AND    JUDAISM 

by  far  greater  than  has  happened  during  the 
last  four  preceding  centuries,  and  on  a  much 
larger  scale  than  even  at  the  time  of  the  expulsion 
of  the  Jews  from  Spain.  Then,  and  at  the  time  of 
the  Cossack  persecutions  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, the  Jews  were  fleeing  for  their  lives.  The 
alternative  was  either  death  or  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity. In  the  last  century,  it  was  voluntary  im- 
migration ;  for  if  they  remained  in  their  old  homes, 
the  alternative  was  persecution  and  the  life  of  a 
helot,  or  spiritual  destitution  and  the  death  of  the 
soul,  though  not  immediately  that  of  the  body. 
They  chose  the  life  of  freedom,  of  hard  work 
and  brighter  prospects.  An  alluring  picture  drew 
them  by  thousands  from  the  Ghettos  of  the  East 
to  the  free  countries  of  the  West.  The  air  was 
filled  with  poetry :  one  heard  of  the  teaching 
of  "human  brotherhood,"  of  "equality  between 
man  and  man,"  of  cosmopolitan  tendencies.  The 
glamour  of  poetical  romanticism  was  shed  round 
the  past.  The  principles  of  altruism,  Comte's 
Positivism,  the  streams  of  new  life,  were  all  so 
different  from  the  dirges  and  wails  of  tortured  souls, 
from  the  echoes  that  resounded  in  other  parts  of 
the  world.  Equality,  liberty,  cosmopolitan  level- 
lings,  were  so  much  unlike  the  "divine  rights" 
claimed  by  a  few  chosen  individuals,  the  aristo- 
cratic and  feudal  privileges  from  which  the  rest  of 
the  people  was  rigidly  excluded,  which,  for  instance, 
ruined  Poland,  and  divided  central  Europe  into 
numberless  petty  states.  All  those  grand  ideas, 

231 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

nurtured  in  the  hearts  of  the  Jews  under  the 
designation  of  "Messianic  hopes/'  were  now 
apparently  realized.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that 
the  Jews  should  feel  attracted,  and  should  change 
their  wretched  birthplaces  for  better  countries. 
Out  of  the  political  gloom  and  the  night  of  per- 
secution into  the  light  of  freedom  and  hope ! 

The  improvement  in  the  situation  of  the  Jews  in 
the  west  of  Europe  went  on  up  to  about  1875. 
The  German  Empire  had  scarcely  been  established 
when  the  old  war  between  kaiser  and  pope  broke 
out  anew.  Under  the  name  of  "  Kulturkampf," 
Bismarck  and  his  Minister  Falke  inaugurated  an 
era  of  persecution  of  the  German  Catholics.  I  can- 
not enter  here  upon  the  merits  of  that  struggle. 
But  the  fight  against  one  religious  denomination, 
though  carried  on  for  political  purposes,  was  dex- 
terously shifted  from  the  Catholics  and  by  the 
Catholics  on  to  the  German  Jews.  Some  of  the 
latter,  such  as  Lasker,  in  their  quality  as  dep- 
uties, supported  Bismarck  in  the  Reichsrath; 
hence  the  hatred  against  them.  Much  love 
had  never  been  lost  on  the  Jews  in  Germany. 
It  required  very  little  skill  to  revive  the  old  feud, 
which  had  never  been  entirely  obliterated.  The 
old  spirit  was  still  powerful;  more  than  a  solitary 
spark  of  prejudice  had  remained  alive,  and  it  was 
soon  blown  into  a  mighty  flame.  The  principles 
enunciated  for  the  first  time,  and  formulated  by 
men  who  pretend  to  stand  on  the  summit  of  "  Cult- 
ure," have  spread  far  beyond  the  borders  of  the 

232 


JEWS    AND    JUDAISM 

"Fatherland,"  and  have  become  now  the  catch- 
words of  thoughtless  demagogues  and  of  irre- 
sponsible leaders  of  the  new  crusade  against  the 
Jews.  Germany  plays  so  important  a  role  in  the 
modern  history  of  mankind,  and  has  so  deeply 
influenced  the  current  of  modern  thought  and 
habits,  that  I  must  devote  more  space  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  changes  wrought  there  than  to 
those  in  any  other  country.  It  forms,  as  it  were, 
the  centre  whence  all  the  effects  found  elsewhere  can 
be  shown  to  have  radiated.  As  the  treatment  to 
which  the  Jews  are  exposed  is  a  sort  of  psycho- 
logical barometer  for  the  ethical  position  which  a 
nation  can  claim  in  the  world  of  morals  and  of 
truth,  an  examination  of  the  principles  which 
have  ruled,  and  now  rule  again,  might  also  be  of 
some  interest  to  the  student  of  modern  ethics. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  Ger- 
many, split  up  into  numberless  small  states,  with 
a  narrow  political  horizon,  and  yei  not  having  a 
literature  of  its  own,  was  deeply  influenced  by 
French  and  English  literature.  Romanticism,  the 
poetical  glorification  of  the  Middle  Ages,  due  to  a 
great  extent  to  absolute  ignorance  of  the  true 
aspects  of  things  during  that  period,  also  began 
to  be  popular  in  Germany.  But  while,  in  Eng- 
land, Bishop  Percy's  Collection  produced,  in  the 
long  run,  Scott's  Ivanhoe,  in  German}"  Herder's 
Stimmen  der  Volker  did  not  produce  Lessing's 
Nathan  der  Weise,  which  preceded  it,  but  stimulated 
the  glorification  of  the  Teutonic  Middle  Ages,  the 

233 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

romanticism  of  Schlegel  and  Brentano,  and  ul- 
timately a  heathen  Teutomania,  which  excluded 
everything  from  its  Walhalla  that  could  not  prove 
Germanic  ethnic  descent.  The  first  logical  conse- 
quence was  the  appearance  of  pamphlets  from  men 
like  Riihss  and  Kiel,  in  which  they  declared  the 
Jews  to  be  incapable  of  joining  in  the  Teutonic 
nation  as  equal  units,  and  proposed  to  grant  them 
mere  toleration  as  a  people  of  another  race  and  of 
another  religious  mould.  In  order,  as  it  were,  to 
atone  for  this  new  heathendom,  which  pervaded 
the  universities,  there  set  in  a  peculiar  religious 
coloring  of  Christianity — a  sentimental,  vague 
Christianity — not  free  from  mediaeval  mysticism 
and  licentiousness.  The  spokesman  of  this  spe- 
cies was  Schleiermacher,  whose  teaching,  improved 
upon  by  his  followers,  ended  in  the  declaration  of  a 
belief  in  a  special  Teutonic  Christianity,  with  a 
God  of  its  own.  It  was  anything  but  true  Chris- 
tianity. Furthermore,  natural  science,  which  reach- 
ed its  highest  development  in  the  last  century, 
on  the  one  hand  sapped  the  foundation  of  religion 
just  as  much  as  the  rationalistic  school  of  Tubin- 
gen, with  the  new  Higher  Criticism  of  the  Bible, 
did  so  on  the  other.  All  these  causes  contributed 
to  a  lowering  of  the  standard  of  equality  granted  to 
the  Jews,  and  robbed  them  of  the  fruits  of  the  sac- 
rifices which  they  had  willingly — nay,  cheerfully — 
brought  to  the  altar  of  their  German  "Father- 
land "  when  they  fought  in  the  ranks  of  the  Ger- 
man armies  against  their  own  liberator.  Napoleon, 

234 


JEWS    AND    JUDAISM 

Nor  was  this  the  only  sacrifice  which  they  brought. 
In  their  endeavor  to  show  in  a  practical  manner 
the  hollowness  of  those  pedants  and  dreaming 
reactionaries  who  would  fain  revive  the  glorious 
times  of  the  Middle  Ages,  they  almost  outdid  the 
Germans  in  their  patriotism,  and,  carried  too  far  in 
their  zeal,  overstepped  the  boundaries  which  kept 
them  in  safety.  It  was  all  in  vain.  The  princi- 
ples of  the  Teutomans  have  survived  to  a  sur- 
prising degree.  Hatred  of  the  foreigner  in  blood, 
glorification  and  exaltation  of  whatever  appeared 
to  be  German,  or  rather  Teutonic,  especially  as  it 
led  indirectly  to  the  establishment  of  the  German 
Empire,  is  growing  steadily  alongside  of  a  grow- 
ing unrest  and  disintegration.  Mystical,  specific 
Christianity,  rank  apostasy,  and  crude  materialism 
act  as  such  disintegrating  forces,  with  socialistic 
tendencies  opposed  to  feudal  pretensions;  all 
these  and  the  lust  of  persecution,  shown  also  by 
the  conflict  with  Rome,  contribute  in  their  way  to 
this  process  of  disintegration,  and  have  made  it  very 
easy  for  the  skilful  manipulator  to  turn  popular 
prejudices  against  the  Jews,  pointing  to  them  as  the 
primary  cause  of  the  social  and  religious  discontent 
permeating  various  classes  of  society.  They  were 
charged  with  the  responsibility  for  all  the  skep- 
ticism that  turned  people  away  from  the  Church, 
and  for  the  political  radicalism  which  threatened 
the  prerogatives  of  privileged  persons  and  classes. 
All  this,  however,  would  not  have  sufficed  to 
drive  the  Jews  from  their  legally  safeguarded 

235 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

position,  and  would  not  have  found  favor  with 
the  masses,  had  the  masses  not  been  weaned, 
effectively  and  energetically,  from  those  lofty 
sentiments  of  cosmopolitanism,  altruism,  equal- 
ity, the  brotherhood  of  man,  and  all  the  glorious 
principles  for  which  they  died  on  the  barricades  dur- 
ing the  first  half  of  the  last  century.  Local  patri- 
otism had  been  fostered,  and,  above  all,  the  nation 
had  been  put  into  the  strait  -  jacket  of  militarism, 
where  it  was  taught  to  obey  and  not  to  reason, 
and  where  it  was  to  find  political  salvation.  The 
era  of  blood  and  iron  set  in,  and  the  higher 
principles  of  humanity,  of  justice,  of  equality  to 
all  the  members  of  the  state,  had  been  drowned 
in  the  blood  of  many  battle-fields.  Nationalism — 
i.  e.,  egotism  in  its  most  brutal  form  —  took  the 
place  of  humanitarianism ;  seclusion,  that  of  ex- 
pansion; personal  interests,  that  of  general  wel- 
fare; and  all  together  have  produced  and  still 
produce  a  spirit  of  bitter  jealousy  and  envy,  of 
hatred  and  persecution  against  anything  and 
everything  that  runs  counter  to  the  new  racial 
and  national  prejudices,  which  are  set  up  as 
the  only  standard  of  true  patriotism.  Hence 
the  universal  moral  decay,  the  ethical  disintegra- 
tion which  slowly  darkened  the  horizon  of  the 
civilized  world  in  the  last  twentj^-five  3Tears  of  the 
past  century.  This  is  the  psychological  origin  of 
the  new  moral  disease  known  under  the  name  of 
Anti-Semitism.  Born  and  bred  in  Germany,  it 
was  nurtured  there  and  has  spread  like  a  plague 

236 


JEWS    AND    JUDAISM 

from  country  to  country,  following  in  the  wake 
of  militarism,  despotism,  the  brutalization  of  the 
masses,  false  patriotism,  greed,  and  jealousy. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  Jews,  whose 
life  is  being  made  more  miserable  from  day  to  da}^, 
had  no  share  in  this  change  of  sentiment  and 
treatment.  The  fault  which  can  be  laid  at  their 
doors  is  that  they  had  neglected  to  study  the  lessons 
of  the  past.  They  were  too  eager  to  cast  off  that 
past,  to  obliterate  every  trace  of  it,  and  to  show 
by  sacrifices  not  asked  for,  nor  even  expected 
from  them,  how  much  they  wished  to  identify 
themselves  with  the  country  in  which  they  hap- 
pened to  live,  from  the  moment  they  were  given 
a  status  of  equality.  To  them  the  dawn  of  liberty 
was  sure  to  be  followed  by  the  full  light  of  the 
day,  a  day  that  would  never  end,  a  sun  that 
would  never  set!  And  so  they  threw  their  whole 
heart  and  soul  into  the  melting-pot  of  Germaniza- 
tion,  Anglicization,  Gallicization,  etc.,  expecting  to 
come  out  of  it  without  any  dross  of  the  past  cling- 
ing to  them,  shining  in  the  new  light  of  patriot- 
ism as  bright  as  the  other  inhabitants  of  those 
countries.  They  believed  strongly  in  the  sin- 
cerity of  the  generous  sentiments  expressed  by 
others,  and  thought  that  such  generosity  claimed 
like  generosity  or  renunciation  on  their  part. 
Herein  lies  the  fundamental  error  of  the  Jews, 
which  exacted  from  them  so  bitter  a  penalty  at 
the  close  of  the  last  century.  Starting  from  false 
premises,  they  were  led  to  false  conclusions.  There 

237 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

was  no  generosity  on  the  part  of  those  who  granted 
the  Jews  equality  and  liberty.  It  was  merely  an 
act  of  justice;  it  was  the  homage  rendered  to  the 
awakened  spirit  of  truth  and  right,  and  claimed, 
as  such,  no  more  recognition  or  thanks  than  any 
act  of  justice  performed  in  the  courts  of  any  coun- 
try. The  Jew  bears  the  burdens  of  the  state  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  other  inhabitants,  and  has 
therefore  just  as  much  claim  to  participate  in  all 
rights  and  liberties  as  the  rest  of  his  fellow-citizens. 
To  go  out  of  the  way  in  order  to  demonstrate  the 
fulfilment  of  one's  duty  as  a  citizen  is  a  sign  that 
we  believe  a  doubt  to  be  lingering  in  the  mind  of 
the  other  which  we  feel  bound  to  destroy. 

To  imagine  again  that  any  sacrifice  that  a  nation 
with  such  a  past  as  the  Jews  could  make  would  at 
once  alter  their  innate  characteristics,  or  would 
in  any  way  promote  an  intimate  fusion  of  two 
races,  was  the  greatest  mistake  possible.  Short  of 
apostasy,  the  Jews  did  not  shrink  from  any  sacri- 
fice. In  consequence  of  the  awakened  conscious- 
ness, their  desire  was  to  obliterate  every  vestige 
of  that  past,  and  to  be  merged  completely  into  the 
nation  with  wrhich  they  aspired  to  live  on  a  foot- 
ing of  absolute  equality.  It  was  an  impossible 
and  unnatural  attempt.  Instead  of  being  satis- 
fied with  marching  on  parallel  lines,  they  wished 
to  walk  in  converging  lines,  hoping  that,  at  some 
time  whose  advent  they  wished  to  hasten  as 
much  as  possible,  the  point  of  contact  would  be 
reached.  We  witness,  therefore,  throughout  the 

238 


JEWS    AND   JUDAISM 

greater  part  of  the  last  century  a  craving  for  blind 
imitation,  in  the  vain  hope  of  obtaining  absolute 
identification  and  assimilation. 

I  am  not  inveighing  against  the  legitimate 
desire  of  full  participation  in  the  conquests  over 
the  forces  of  nature,  or  against  their  eager  wish 
to  take,  if  possible,  a  large  share  in  the  intellectual 
victories  which  science  in  the  widest  sense  has 
gained.  True  science  is  not  limited  to  one  nation 
or  to  one  hemisphere.  It  stands  far  above  the 
petty  divisions  invented  by  clannishness  and  kept 
up  by  sordid  motives.  Endowed  with  that  keen- 
ness of  intellect  which  was  the  heirloom  of  so 
man}7  centuries  of  mental  training,  the  Jews  soon 
identified  themselves  with  all  the  progress  which 
has  marked  the  intellectual  life  of  the  world  during 
the  last  hundred  years.  There  is  no  branch  of 
knowledge  in  which  the  Jews  are  not  fully  rep- 
resented :  in  medicine  as  well  as  in  the  natural 
sciences ;  in  diplomacy  as  well  as  in  law ;  in  music 
and  painting,  the  drama  and  fiction.  In  every 
country  and  in  every  land  where  facilities  were 
given  to  them  to  acquire  the  requisite  knowledge 
the  Jews  were  not  behind  in  utilizing  them  to  the 
fullest  extent.  To  give  here  a  list  of  such  men  as 
have  contributed  to  the  general  advancement  of 
civilization  would  be  too  tedious  a  task.  Every 
science  knows  them,  every  branch  of  learning 
counts  scores  among  them,  and  especially  among 
the  followers  of  exact  sciences  are  they  well  known. 
This,  however,  is  of  little  consequence  for  the  inner 

239 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

history  of  Israel  during  the  nineteenth  century. 
It  was  more  the  outcome  of  the  endeavor  to  con- 
tinue on  new  lines  the  same  activity  that  had  been 
displayed  by  them  throughout  the  centuries. 

Of  far  greater  moment,  however,  is  the  inner 
religious  change  which  has  taken  place  in  conse- 
quence of  this  craving  for  assimilation.  It  played 
them  false,  inasmuch  as  it  made  the  Jews  believe 
that  their  identification  with  the  higher  intellect- 
ual pursuits,  and  the  equality  they  had  gained 
therein,  would  also  bring  with  it  the  social  equality 
of  which  they  had  dreamed.  They  fashioned  their 
lives  according  to  non- Jewish  models.  Easily  in- 
fluenced as  they  have  shown  themselves  in  all 
times,  they  played  at  being  Teutons  of  a  new 
complexion.  The  barriers  of  the  Ghetto  once 
broken,  all  that  which  seemed  to  remind  them  of  it 
was  henceforth  to  be  forgotten,  obliterated  from  the 
mind  and  heart  of  the  new  generation.  We  see, 
therefore,  a  profound  change  in  the  religious  life  of 
the  Jews.  Mendelssohn's  activity,  the  introduction 
of  the  pure  German  instead  of  the  corrupt  German 
which  the  Jews  spoke,  the  acquaintance  with  Ger- 
man literature  and  the  philosophical  tendencies  of 
the  time,  caused  the  Jews  to  attempt  the  recasting 
of  the  old  faith  and  ceremonial  on  what  they  be- 
lieved to  be  a  rational  basis.  To  curtail  the  service, 
to  introduce  German  sermons,  to  ape  the  outward 
form  of  Christian  worship,  to  eliminate  Hebrew 
from  the  synagogue  and  from  the  house,  were 
the  first  and  principal  aims  of  the  new  school 

240 


JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

headed  by  Jacobsohn  and  followed  by  many. 
The  ultimate  ambition  of  these  reformers  was  to 
bring  about  at  least  outward  identity  in  worship 
between  Jews  and  non-Jews,  and  to  sweep  away 
the  last  remnant  of  the  specifically  Jewish  life 
in  the  Ghetto. 

Growing  skepticism,  the  heathen  tendencies 
and  the  romantic  Schwdrmerei  of  their  Teutonic 
models,  were  not  without  effect  upon  their  blind 
followers.  And  when  the  "Teutonic-Christian" 
state  held  out  the  bribery  of  appointments  and 
honor  for  apostasy,  it  became  rampant.  A  blow 
had  been  struck  at  the  old  faith  by  the  example  set 
in  the  famous  "  Salons  "  of  Berlin,  by  the  apostasy 
of  the  daughters  of  Mendelssohn,  of  Rachel  Levine, 
and  others.  No  wonder  if  men  like  Heine  and 
Boerne  were  driven  to  similar  expedients.  Near- 
ly every  man  who  aspired,  and  I  may  say  aspires 
now,  to  the  chair  of  a  professor  at  a  German  uni- 
versity had  first  to  sacrifice  his  convictions.  The 
want  of  religious  fervor  and  the  lack  of  adhesion 
to  the  old  teaching  spread  very  much  among  the 
Jews  and  was  one  of  the  principal  characteristics 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  More  even  than  the 
Christians  did  the  Jews  of  the  west  of  Europe, 
and,  for  that  matter,  those  of  America,  reject  the 
old  teaching,  consciously  or  unconsciously  ani- 
mated by  the  same  sentiment  of  placing  them- 
selves on  an  equal  footing  with  their  neighbors. 
In  order  to  share  in  an  imaginary  social  equality, 
they  gave  up  every  distinctive  mark  and  appeared 
Q  241 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

to  the  non-Jews  as  stripped  of  every  Jewish  ideal, 
given  up  entirely  to  the  mimicking  of  others, 
without  losing,  however,  in  spite  of  what  they 
had  so  fondly  imagined,  those  traits  which  had 
been  impressed  on  their  minds  and  habits  by  the 
seclusion  of  the  Ghetto.  We  thus  find  Judaism 
undergoing  a  radical  process  of  transformation 
among  the  Western  Jews,  which  has  to  a  certain 
extent  estranged  them  from  their  Eastern  brothers, 
without  bringing  them  perceptibly  nearer  the 
goal  at  which  they  aimed. 

This  movement  did  not  pass  unchallenged. 
These  changes,  not  being  born  of  profound  scholar- 
ship, but  attempting  merely  to  replace  the  things 
that  appeared  antiquated  and  irksome  by  others 
borrowed  from  foreign  sources  that  appeared 
new  and  attractive,  not  resting  on  a  sympathetic 
or  romantic  appreciation  of  the  past,  were  chal- 
lenged by  men  of  a  totally  different  stamp,  who 
have  successfully  driven  this  current  back. 

The  example  set  by  German  romanticism,  turn- 
ing back  with  admiration  to  the  twilight  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  was  not  lost  upon  the  Jews.  Those 
who  had  immigrated  from  eastern  Europe  or  come 
from  the  then  half-civilized  communities  of  Austria 
and  Galicia,  learned  soon  to  imitate  and  to  search 
for  similar  examples  in  the  old,  now  almost  for- 
gotten, literature  of  ancient  times.  For  the  Jews 
had  no  period  of  obscurantism,  no  real  Middle 
Ages ;  they  had  a  long  xecord  of  mental  activity, 
which,  however,  lay  buried  under  the  ruins  of  the 

242 


JEWS    AND    JUDAISM 

old  world.  To  this  the  new  generation  turned 
with  love,  in  the  hope  of  showing  to  their  people 
that  the  Jewish  past  was  no  whit  behind  other 
nations  in  pathos  and  romanticism,  in  learning 
and  intellectual  achievements.  Thus  arose  the 
school  of  the  History  of  Judaism,  whose  foremost 
representatives  were  Zunz,  Frankel,  and  notably 
Graetz,  the  famous  historian. 

Other  branches  of  purely  Hebrew  learning  began 
to  be  cultivated,  and  the  scientific  methods  of  the 
Christian  schools  slowty  found  their  way  into 
the  midst  of  the  Jews.  The  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century  saw  the  first  Jewish  Review, 
in  which  Heine's  friends  and  contemporaries  col- 
laborated, in  which  Zunz  published  his  first  essay 
on  Rabbinic  literature,  and  the  close  of  it  saw  the 
gigantic  undertaking  of  Funk  &  Wagnall — an  En- 
cyclopaedia of  the  Jews,  in  ten  huge  volumes.  It 
is  to  be  the  embodiment  of  the  scientific  results  ob- 
tained solely  in  the  course  of  that  century. 

The  larger  mass  of  the  Jews,  those  who  remained 
behind  in  the  east  of  Europe,  have  participated  only 
to  a  lesser  degree  in  the  modifications  which  have 
shaped  the  life  of  their  better-situated  brethren 
in  the  West.  In  political  liberties,  in  aspirations, 
in  the  new  feeling  of  consciousness,  in  social  equal- 
ity, and  in  work  in  the  field  of  science,  they  have 
kept  pace  with  their  immediate  neighbors,  alwaj^s 
trying  for  the  best  and  often  succeeding.  The 
religious  conflicts  also  found  an  echo  in  those  lands, 
but  it  took  some  time  before  they  penetrated  behind 

243 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  Chinese  wall  which  resists  the  entrance  of 
Western  ideas  into  the  mighty  Empire  of  the  East. 
But  there  are  no  permanent  barriers  against  the 
spirit.  It  scaled  these  walls  also,  though  a  con- 
siderable interval  elapsed  ere  it  reached  the  masses 
living  beyond.  The  conflict  is  still  going  on,  but 
a  movement  since  begun  is  driving  the  Jewish 
life  into  new  channels. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  receding  wave  of  a  once 
mighty  Messianic  enthusiasm  left  on  the  strand 
the  germs  of  a  new  mystical  teaching,  which  re- 
sembles in  one  way  the  vagaries  and  miracles 
told  by  the  monks  of  the  Nitrian  Desert,  and  the 
tales  of  Avva  Pahomius  and  St.  Anthony,  in  the 
third  and  fourth  centuries  in  Egypt,  and  in  another 
the  principles  that  underlie  the  conception  of  the 
Dalai-Lama  of  Tibet,  the  ever-recurring  incarna- 
tion of  Buddha  as  the  visible  intermediary  be- 
tween God  and  man.  The  Hassidim,  with  their 
wonder-working  "Rebbe,"  the  living  incarnation 
of  a  superhuman  intermediary  between  them  and 
God,  the  substitution  of  a  Quaker-like,  enthusiastic 
form  of  worship  at  times  when  the  spirit  moves 
them,  and  freedom  from  other  ceremonial  injunc- 
tions connected  with  worship  and  prayer,  is  to  a 
certain  extent  the  form  which  reform  has  taken  in 
the  East.  Unconsciously  rebelling  against  some 
rabbinical  tenets,  it  has  contributed  in  its  way  to 
undermine  the  older  form  and  to  disintegrate 
Judaism  in  a  peculiar  manner. 

To   the    impartial    observer    of    these    internal 
244 


JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

changes  within  the  spiritual  life  of  Jewry,  they 
appear  like  the  dead  leaves  which  are  scattered  by 
the  first  shaking  of  the  old  tree  by  the  storm  of  per- 
secution that  rages ;  they  fall  from  the  stem  of  Juda- 
ism, and  are  the  humus  out  of  which  a  new  life  will 
grow.  And  a  new  life  is  growing.  The  manifold 
causes  which  have  contributed  to  the  awakening 
of  Jewish  self -consciousness  and  to  strengthen  it  for 
at  least  half  a  century  have,  not  disappeared  without 
leaving  great  results.  If  nothing  is  lost  in  nature, 
dumb  and  speechless  as  it  is,  still  less  is  anything 
lost  that  has  been  stirred  in  the  human  soul  once 
awakened.  It  may  change,  it  may  pass  through 
a  metamorphosis,  but  it  will  be  like  the  caterpillar 
which  becomes  a  butterfly.  Just  as  little  as  the 
Middle  Ages  could  be  restored  or  the  Ghetto  revived 
upon  the  old  lines,  so  little  could  one  expect  to  find 
the  Jews  any  longer  with  that  broken  spirit  that 
submitted  to  ignominies.  Self -consciousness,  once 
awakened,  will  not  allow  itself  to  be  lulled  again 
into  a  lethargic  sleep.  The  unity  of  Israel  has  also 
been  practical^  demonstrated  by  the  Jews  during 
the  past  century.  They  have  contributed  to  the 
emancipation  of  the  body,  as  well  as  of  the  spirit,  of 
their  less  fortunate  brethren.  The  cause  of  the 
Jews  in  one  country  has  been  felt  as  that  of  the 
Jews  in  all  other  countries.  This  feeling  was 
more  pronounced  in  those  countries  where  the 
Jews  believed  themselves  to  have  obtained  absolute 
equality  in  every  respect  with  the  other  inhabitants. 
Such  was  the  case  in  France,  England,  and,  re- 

245 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

cently,  in  America.  The  principles  advocated  are 
those  of  human  liberty,  of  equal  duties  and  equal 
rights.  In  the  name  of  these  great  principles,  men 
like  Sir  Moses  Montefiore  and  Isaac  Adolphe  Cr6- 
mieux  could  not  allow  the  horrible  blood-accusa- 
tion against  the  Jews,  formulated  for  the  first  time 
again  in  1840  in  Damascus,  to  pass  unchallenged. 
They  stood  up  for  their  falsely  accused  brethren 
and  defended  their  cause,  not  merely  in  England 
and  France,  but  personally  in  Constantinople 
and  Alexandria,  and  there  refuted  these  baseless 
calumnies.  It  was  reserved  to  the  closing  years 
of  the  nineteenth  century  to  revive  those  horrible 
accusations,  as  if  to  give  the  lie  to  the  intervening 
fifty  years  of  comparative  progress  and  civilization. 

The  result  of  that  mission  to  the  East  has  been 
much  more  far-reaching,  for  it  led  to  the  establish- 
ment of  an  association  whose  principal  object  is  to 
protect  the  Jews  in  those  countries  where  they  are 
still  kept  in  a  kind  of  social  bondage,  and  to  pro- 
mote their  emancipation  by  legal  means.  Thus 
was  the  Alliance  Israelite  founded  in  Paris.  In 
1870,  during  the  Franco-German  war,  when  the 
Alliance  in  Paris  was  crippled,  a  branch  was 
established  in  England,  identical  with  the  French 
in  all  its  aims.  Spiritual  emancipation  was  part 
of  the  programme,  hence  the  foundation  of  schools 
in  the  East. 

With  the  modification  of  the  status  of  the  Jews 
in  Europe,  and  with  the  changed  conditions  under 
which  the  people  grew  up.  the  former  part  of  the 

246 


JEWS    AND    JUDAISM 

Alliance's  activity  may  be  said  to  have  come  to 
an  end  with  the  Russo-Turkish  War.  The  spirit  of 
chivalry  and  of  generous  impulses  has  from  that 
time  forward  been  completely  driven  out  of  Europe. 
Each  country,  every  government,  inaugurated  for 
itself  an  era  of  self-interest  of  the  basest  com- 
mercial type.  With  a  few  noteworthy  exceptions 
made  by  the  English  government,  the  nations 
turned  a  polite  but  none  the  less  deaf  ear  to  the 
complaints  made  of  the  barbarous  treatment  of  the 
Jews  in  Roumania  and  Russia.  The  Alliances 
becoming  thus  mere  institutions  for  the  establish- 
ment of  schools — in  itself  a  very  laudable  but  not  a 
very  courageous  or  lofty  undertaking — the  Jews 
were  forced  to  seek  remedies  within  their  own 
powers  and  guided  by  their  own  experiences. 
The  end  of  the  century  now  saw  an  attempt  on  a 
larger  scale  to  give  expression  to  this  feeling  of  self- 
emancipation.  The  misery  which  refined  legal 
persecution  is  bringing  upon  millions  is  growing 
hourly  in  the  east  of  Europe,  and  the  disappoint- 
ment among  the  Jews  of  the  West  to  find  them- 
selves, after  years  of  toil  and  self-sacrifice,  ruth- 
lessly thrust  back  within  the  walls  of  a  moral 
Ghetto,  the  uncertainty  of  the  future  combined  with 
the  self-consciousness  and  the  feeling  of  national 
life  which  is  slowly  dawning  upon  the  Jewish 
masses — although  different  from  that  in  which 
they  sought  to  be  merged — all  these  contributed 
to  endow  the  idea  of  resettlement  in  the  old  land 
of  their  fathers  with  a  new  and  immediate  signifi- 

247 


cance.  The  idea  of  establishing  Jewish  colonies 
in  Palestine  has  gone  through  some  stages  al- 
ready. It  began  on  a  serious  basis  in  1880,  and 
Baron  Edmond  de  Rothschild,  of  Paris,  has  con- 
tributed almost  exclusively  to  the  success  which 
has  attended  these  undertakings.  Baron  de  Hirsch 
imitated  the  example,  but  sent  his  Jewish  colonies 
to  the  Argentine.  The  Jewish  Colonization  Asso- 
ciation, the  heir  to  his  fortune,  partly  reversed  his 
policy  and  identified  itself  largely  with  the  coloniza- 
tion of  Palestine  by  Jews.  The  masses  worked  on 
parallel  lines  with  these  men,  and  out  of  their 
midst  sprang  the  new  movement  known  under 
the  name  of  Zionism — that  is,  the  return  to  Zion  as 
a  political  unity. 

We  are  standing  at  the  beginning  of  this  move- 
ment, \vhich  alone  will  assist  in  solving  one  of  the 
most  perplexing  problems  in  modern  sociology, 
will  free  Europe  of  an  element  which,  in  spite  of 
all  phrases  to  the  contrary,  is  still  considered  as 
alien,  and  will  be  treated  as  such  according  to 
circumstances.  There  are  some,  among  the  richer 
Jews,  who  have  vested  interests  and  narrow  con- 
ceptions; they  are  held  fast  in  the  meshes  of  self- 
delusion  and  cannot  differentiate  between  the 
rights  and  duties  of  a  citizen  and  the  historical 
obligations  of  a  national  and  religious  life;  they 
are  still  holding  aloof  from  this  movement.  The 
vast  masses,  however,  the  sufferers  and  toilers 
of  the  earth,  have  rallied  enthusiastically  round 
it.  •  In  one  wray  or  another,  realized  sooner  or  later, 

248 


JEWS    AND    JUDAISM 

with  the  assistance  of  all,  or  carried  out  in  spite 
of  many,  this  is  the  sign  under  which  Judaism 
enters  the  new  century.  Centrifugal  tendencies 
have  had  their  day ;  now  is  the  time  for  centripetal 
concentration.  This  is  the  watchword  of  indus- 
trial interests,  of  political  aspirations,  and  of  na- 
tional hopes.  The  Jews  follow  herein  also  the 
general  trend  of  human  activity. 

It  is  idle  to  speculate  at  this  juncture  what  the  re- 
sult may  be  for  the  progress  of  the  higher  ideals  of 
mankind.  A  mighty  wind  of  reaction  is  blowing 
all  over  Europe.  We  are  moving  on  the  down- 
grade plane  leading  from  equality,  fraternity,  free- 
dom, and  right,  to  racial  hatred,  national  exclusive- 
ness,  military  brutalization,  and  dynastic  tyranny; 
from  the  free  and  serene  atmosphere  of  human 
faith  to  the  swamps  of  mysticism,  occultism,  to 
the  inquisition  and  the  stake.  But  far  away  the 
dawn  of  a  new  life  is  visible,  a  new  day  which 
will  disperse  the  shadows  that  are  settling  down, 
a  day  rising  again  from  the  regenerated  East,  from 
the  Orient  inhabited  again  by  its  own  sons — Jews 
living  a  national  life,  competing  for  the  best  and 
working  for  the  highest,  blending  the  civilization 
of  the  West  with  the  poetry  of  the  East,  and  giving 
to  mankind  the  message  of  better  days — "  Ex 
Oriente  lux." 

M.  G ASTER. 


THE   OUTLOOK   FOR    CHRIS- 
TIANITY 


THE    OUTLOOK    FOR  CHRIS- 
TIANITY 


WHAT  are  the  prospects  of  the  Christian  relig- 
ion? What  promise  has  it  of  retaining  its  hold 
upon  the  human  race  and  extending  its  influence 
over  the  thought  and  life  of  men? 

Voices  which  are  supposed  to  be  influential  are 
frequently  heard  asserting  the  decadence  of  Chris- 
tianity and  predicting  its  speedy  disappearance. 
That  assertion  and  that  prediction  have  been 
many  times  repeated,  from  the  days  of  Celsus  down 
to  Bolingbroke  and  Diderot  and  Voltaire.  In  the 
mean  time,  the  geographers  have  continued  to 
find  a  place  for  Christianity  on  their  maps,  and 
the  statisticians  do  not  appear  to  be  able  to  treat 
it  as  a  neglectable  quantity. 

We  are  warned  against  putting  our  trust  in 
figures.  Numerical  estimates  of  the  growth  of  a 
religious  system  are  not,  indeed,  conclusive.  Its 
product  must  be  weighed  as  well  as  counted.  Yet 
the  figures  which  show  the  expansion  of  Chris- 
tianity as  a  world  power  can  hardly  be  disregarded. 
For  the  early  periods  we  have  only  estimates;  but 

253 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

it  is  at  least  an  approximation  to  the  truth  to  say 
that,  at  the  end  of  the  first  century,  there  were  in 
the  world  about  five  millions  of  nominal  Chris- 
tians ;  at  the  end  of  the  tenth  century,  ten  millions ; 
at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth,  one  hundred  millions;  at 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth,  two  hundred  millions; 
at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth,  five  hundred  millions. 
The  last  century  has  added  to  the  adherents  of 
Christianity  almost  three  times  as  many  as  were 
added  during  the  first  fifteen  centuries.  The  rate  of 
progress  now  is  far  more  rapid  than  at  any  other 
period  during  the  Christian  era. 

The  population  of  the  world  is  growing.  The 
estimates  are  that,  whereas  in  1786  the  dwellers 
on  this  planet  numbered  954,000,000,  in  1886 
they  were  1,483,000,000,  an  increase  of  fifty-four 
per  cent.  But  the  nominal  Christians  had  in- 
creased during  the  same  period  more  than  one 
hundred  per  cent.  The  political  strength  of  Chris- 
tendom is  not,  however,  represented  by  these 
figures.  In  1786  a  little  more  than  one-third 
of  the  people  of  the  wrorld  were  under  the  govern- 
ment of  Christian  nations,  and  a  little  less  than 
two-thirds  were  under  the  control  of  non-Chris- 
tian nations;  in  1886  fifty-five  per  cent,  of  the 
larger  population  were  under  Christian  rule,  and 
only  forty-five  per  cent,  under  non-Christian  rule. 

The  geographers  put  it  in  this  way:  In  1600 
the  inhabited  surface  of  the  earth  measured  about 
43,798,600  square  miles;  of  these,  Christians  oc- 
cupied about  3,480,900,  and  non-Christians  40,- 

254 


THE    OUTLOOK    FOR    CHRISTIANITY 

317,700.  In  1894  the  number  of  vSquare  miles 
inhabited  was  reckoned  at  53,401,400,  of  which 
Christians  held  45,619,100  and  non  -  Christians 
8,782,300. 

These  facts  do  not  encourage  the  expectation 
that  Christianity  is  about  to  disappear  from  the 
face  of  the  earth.  If  the  external  signs  could  be 
trusted,  there  would  be  good  reason  for  believing 
that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  it  will  take 
full  possession  of  the  earth. 

We  have  been  speaking  of  the  political  and 
geographical  expansion  of  nominal  Christianity 
— of  the  populations  and  the  areas  which  are 
under  the  dominion  of  races  and  rulers  who  call 
themselves  by  the  Christian  name.  It  is  to  be 
remembered  that,  while  nearly  two-thirds  of  the 
world's  population  is  now  controlled  by'  Christian 
powers,  a  large  proportion  of  those  under  this 
control  are  not  even  nominal  Christians.  The 
governments  of  non-Christian  races,  as  in  India 
and  Egypt  and  Siam,  have  been  overthrown  and 
supplanted  by  governments  of  the  Christian  pow- 
ers. But  nearly  500,000,000,  or  more  than  a  third 
of  the  world's  population,  now  bear  the  Christian 
name,  and  accept,  in  some  more  or  less  intelligible 
way,  Christian  theories  and  ideals. 

Among  these  hundreds  of  millions  there  are 
many  and  various  standards  of  belief  and  conduct. 
None  of  the  great  religions  has  a  uniform  cult 
or  a  single  type  of  morality;  Christianity  is  as 
far  from  this  uniformity  as  any  of  the  others.  In 

255 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

different  races  it  has  taken  on  different  characters ; 
if  certain  fundamental  beliefs  are  universal,  many 
variants  of  thought  and  sentiment  appear  in  the 
different  tribes  and  tongues.  Perhaps  Christi- 
anity follows  the  evolutionary  laws,  and  em- 
ploys variation  as  one  of  the  elements  of  progress. 
It  may  be  that  its  natural  result  is  the  production 
of  a  great  variety  of  theories  and  practices,  and 
that  it  depends  on  natural  or  spiritual  selection  to 
preserve  the  best. 

Besides  a  number  of  minor  sects,  such  as  the 
Abyssinians,  the  Copts,  the  Armenians,  the  Nes- 
torians,  and  the  Jacobites,  numbering  in  all  four 
or  five  millions,  we  have  the  three  grand  di- 
visions of  Christendom — the  Holy  Orthodox  Greek 
Church,  with  98,000,000  adherents;  the  Protestant 
churches,  with  an  aggregate  of  143,000,000,  and 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  with  230,000,000. 
No  statistics  are  at  hand  showing  the  relative 
growth  of  the  number  of  adherents  of  these  three 
great  divisions.  But  the  growth  of  the  populations 
under  their  rule  is  thus  set  forth  by  comparison: 
The  Roman  Catholics,  in  the  year  1500,  were 
ruling  over  80,000,000  people;  in  1700,  over 
90,000,000,  and  in  1891,  over  242,000,000.  The 
Greek  Catholics,  in  1500,  were  governing  20,000,- 
ooo ;  in  1700,  33,000,000,  and  in  1891,  128,000,000. 
The  Protestants,  in  1500,  had  not  begun  to  be; 
in  1700,  they  held  sway  over  32,000,000,  and  in 
1891,  over  520,000,000.  In  the  four  centuries 
the  political  power  of  the  Roman  Catholics  has 

256 


THE    OUTLOOK    FOR    CHRISTIANITY 

more  than  trebled,  that  of  the  Greeks  has  been 
multiplied  by  six,  and  that  of  the  Protestants  has 
sprung  from  nothing  to  a  control'  of  one-third 
of  the  world's  population.  It  is  easy  to  see  which 
of  these  grand  divisions  is  expanding  most  rapidly. 

More  important  and  more  difficult  is  the  question 
concerning  the  intellectual  and  moral  progress  of 
these  three  great  sections  of  Christendom.  It  would 
be  natural  to  judge  that  they  must  all  be  alive; 
such  growth  as  they  all  report  is  a  sign  of  life. 

If  we  could  trust  Count  Tolstoy,  the  Holy  Ortho- 
dox Greek  Church  is  not  only  moribund,  but  rotten. 
To  this  merciless  idealist  its  shortcomings  are 
crimes;  no  judgment  more  unsparing  has  been 
uttered  since  the  days  of  John  the  Baptist  than 
that  with  which  he  scourges  the  church  in  which 
he  was  reared.  There  must  be  some  truth  in  this 
terrible  arraignment;  yet  one  cannot  be  quite 
confident  that  Tolstoy's  criticisms  are  always 
judicial.  Something  there  must  be  of  saving 
power  in  this  national  church ;  the  Russian  people 
could  not  possess  the  moral  vigor  which  their 
history  constantly  reveals  if  their  religious  life 
were  as  inane  and  degrading  as  Tolstoy  paints  it. 
As  a  writer  of  the  last  century  said : 

"  One  must  actually  stand  in  the  Kremlin  and  Troitza 
before  he  fully  realizes  what  a  mighty,  although  latent,  power 
the  Greek  Church  still  is,  and  how  great  a  part  it  may  have 
to  play  in  the  drama  of  human  history.  Inert,  abject,  super- 
stitious, full  of  abuses,  it  undoubtedly  is.  It  can  hardly  be 
said  to  have  done  anything  for  literature  or  for  art ;  nothing, 
R  257 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

at  least,  that  has  become  famous  beyond  its  own  frontier ; 
and  yet  a  form  of  religion  which  has  supported  its  adherents 
under  the  successive  deluges  of  misery  which  flowed  over 
Russia  during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  in  spite  of  the  dull  weight 
of  wretchedness  which  has  weighed  on  the  Russian  peasant 
almost  up  to  the  present  hour,  has  made  him  so  gentle,  so 
enduring,  so  tolerant,  must  have  some  not  inconsiderable 
merits.  Its  education  of  a  thousand  years  must  have  some- 
thing to  do  with  that  inexhaustible  gentleness  which,  in  the 
words  of  Schedo-Ferroti,  is  the  base  of  his  character  ;  with  that 
incomparable  sweetness  of  temper  which  causes  his  soul  to 
reflect  everything  in  a  way  different  to  that  which  we  observe 
in  the  lower  classes  of  other  nations." 

With  some  such  judgment  the  philosophic 
observer  would  be  compelled,  no  doubt,  to  temper 
the  heat  of  Tolstoy's  denunciation.  Yet  it  must  be 
confessed  that  the  condition  of  the  Greek  Church 
to-day  is  less  hopeful  than  that  of  any  of  her  sister 
churches.  If  our  regard  were  fixed  on  Russia,  we 
should  find  faint  encouragement  for  the  expecta- 
tion of  the  coming  of  Christ's  spiritual  kingdom. 
The  union  of  church  and  state  has  resulted  in  the 
paralysis  of  spiritual  life.  The  principle  of  Or- 
thodoxy, which  means  the  fixation  of  religious 
thought,  has  had  its  perfect  work  in  Russia ;  with- 
drawal from  the  established  church  means  dis- 
franchisement  and  ostracism;  and  the  result  is 
deadty  hypocrisy  in  high  places  and  the  blight  of 
the  intellect  that  deals  with  questions  of  religion. 
Nowhere  else  is  religious  reform  so  much  needed 
as  in  Russia.  Dissenters  and  schismatics  there 
are,  some  twelve  or  fifteen  millions  of  them;  and 

258 


THE    OUTLOOK    FOR    CHRISTIANITY 

there  are  quiet  and  kindly  folk  among  them  who 
appear  to  have  returned  to  the  simplicity  of  Christ. 
Against  these,  the  persecutions  of  the  state  church 
are  most  bitterly  waged.  For  the  greater  part, 
however,  the  schismatics  and  come-outers  are  a 
queer  assortment,  holding  the  most  fantastic  no- 
tions and  practising  some  highly  unsocial  cus- 
toms. The  points  in  which  the  schismatics  are  at 
variance  with  the  Orthodox  Church  are  not  al- 
ways of  great  importance;  some  of  their  fiercest 
controversies  have  raged  around  such  questions 
as  whether  the  sign  of  the  cross  shall  be  made  with 
two  fingers  or  three,  or  whether  the  Hallelujah 
shall  be  said  twice  or  thrice,  or  whether  the  cross 
shall  have  four  arms  or  eight.  That  Christians, 
in  the  twentieth  century,  should  regard  such  mat- 
ters as  of  sufficient  importance  to  justify  them  in 
setting  up  separate  sects  is  only  less  astonishing 
than  the  fact  that  a  state  claiming  to  be  Christian 
has  scourged  and  imprisoned  and  slain  its  subjects 
by  thousands  for  no  other  offence  than  adherence 
to  these  small  ritual  peculiarities. 

The  religious  condition  of  Russia  is  little  changed 
since  the  Middle  Ages;  the  anomaly  which  it 
presents  is  that  of  a  religious  S3Tstem  remaining 
stationary,  or  nearly  stationary,  in  the  midst  of 
a  rapidly  moving  civilization.  Even  here,  how- 
ever, it  is  probable  that  a  better  knowledge  of  all 
conditions,  past  and  present,  would  show  that 
some  progress  has  been  made  during  the  century. 
The  emancipation  of  the  serfs  appears  to  have 

259 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

been  inspired  by  Christian  sentiments;  the  con- 
dition of  the  dissenting  sects  has  been  considerably 
ameliorated,  and  it  would  be  cynical  to  deny  that 
the  recent  overtures  of  the  czar  for  disarmament 
and  arbitration  drew  part  of  their  inspiration  from 
the  teachings  of  the  Prince  of  Peace.  The  Rus- 
sian Church  has  come  far  short  of  its  high  calling, 
but  the  light  of  the  gospel  has  not  been  wrholly  ex- 
tinguished, and  we  may  hope  to  see  a  more  ration- 
al and  vital  faith  supplanting  the  obscurantism 
which  so  long  has  veiled  its  brightness. 

The  condition  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is 
far  more  hopeful.  It  has  had  the  good  fortune,  not 
altogether  of  its  own  choice,  to  be  practically 
divorced,  in  many  countries,  for  many  years,  from 
politics,  and  its  freedom  has  resulted  in  a  whole- 
some development  of  its  life.  Its  intellectual  and 
moral  progress  has  been  slowest  in  the  countries 
in  which  it  has  had  most  to  do  with  the  govern- 
ment ;  its  best  gains  have  been  made  in  those  coun- 
tries where  it  has  been  free  to  devote  its  energies  to 
the  spiritual  concerns  of  its  adherents.  The  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church  in  the  great  Protestant  coun- 
tries— in  Germany  and  England  and  the  United 
States — has  been  making  great  progress ;  its  people 
are  receiving  education;  the  standards  of  intelli- 
gence and  of  character  are  steadily  rising  among 
its  clergy ;  it  is  exerting  a  conservative  and  salutary 
force  upon  the  national  life.  With  respect  to  what 
has  been  done  for  the  protection  of  the  family 
against  the  influences  that  are  threatening  its  life, 

260 


THE    OUTLOOK    FOR    CHRISTIANITY 

the  Roman  Catholic  Church  deserves  all  praise. 
During  a  recent  lamentable  recrudescence  of  Prot- 
estant bigotry  on  this  continent,  the  moderation 
and  wisdom  of  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  and  the 
Roman  Catholic  people  won  the  grateful  recogni- 
tion of  all  good  men.  If  they  had  not  behaved 
much  more  like  Christians  than  the  zealots  who 
filled  the  air  with  baseless  lies  about  them,  the 
land  would  have  been  deluged  with  blood.  Such 
Roman  Catholics  as  Kenrick  and  Williams  and 
Gibbons  and  Ireland  and  Elder  and  Keane  in 
this  country,  and  Manning  and  Newman  and 
Vaughan  in  England,  represent  a  high  order  of 
intelligence  and  patriotism;  and,  under  their  wise 
leadership,  the  unhappy  alienation  between  the 
two  great  branches  of  the  Western  Church  is 
gradually  disappearing. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  as  a  whole,  is  sharing  liberally  in  the 
growing  light  of  this  new  day.  It  may  be  that 
its  doctrine  is  technically  irreformable,  but  inter- 
pretation is  a  great  matter;  and  words  may  be 
taken,  in  one  generation,  in  a  very  different  sense 
from  that  which  was  given  to  them  in  a  preceding 
generation.  That  the  discipline  of  the  church  is 
gradually  changing — becoming  more  mild  and 
rational,  less  arbitrary  and  despotic — can  hardly 
be  doubted. 

The  chief  additions  to  dogma  which  have  been 
made  during  the  past  century  are  those  proclaimed 
by  the  Vatican  Council  in  1870,  the  dogma  of  the 

261 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and 
the  dogma  of  the  infallibility  and  supremacy  of  the 
pope.  The  first  of  these  possesses  an  interest 
mainly  academical;  the  second  seems  to  have 
much  practical  significance.  But  the  political 
analogies  suggest  that  concentration  of  power  is 
apt  to  result  in  the  enlargement  of  liberty.  It 
was  monarchy,  as  Guizot  has  shown,  that  led 
in  free  institutions.  The  king  took  the  part  of 
the  people  against  the  feudal  lords.  And  it  is 
at  least  conceivable  that  the  strengthening  of  the 
papal  prerogative  will  lead  to  important  reforms, 
both  in  the  doctrine  and  in  the  discipline  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  If  the  present  pope 
were  twenty  years  younger,  such  results  might 
well  be  looked  for  during  his  reign.  For  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether  the  throne  at  the  Vatican  has  ever  been 
occupied  by  a  pontiff  of  purer  purpose,  broader 
wisdom,  or  larger  charity  than  Leo  XIII. 

What,  now,  shall  be  said  concerning  the  Protes- 
tant communions,  whose  numbers  are  so  rapidly 
increasing  and  whose  influence  is  so  widely  ex- 
tending? 

The  Protestant  principle  of  the  right  of  private 
judgment  has  resulted  in  the  multiplication  of  sects. 
Some  variety  of  organization  and  ritual  might  well 
have  grown  from  the  sowing  of  the  light;  but  the 
variation  which  would  have  appeared  under  normal 
conditions  has  undoubtedly  been  increased  by 
human  selfishness  and  ambition.  It  may  be  doubt- 
ed whether  the  emphasis  which  has  been  placed 

262 


THE    OUTLOOK    FOR    CHRISTIANITY 

upon  the  right  of  private  judgment  expresses  a 
sound  principle.  In  no  kind  of  social  organization 
are  rights  or  liberties  the  primary  concern.  A 
family  in  which  it  is  the  first  business  of  every 
member  to  assert  his  own  rights,  or  to  magnify 
his  liberh',  will  not  be  a  united  and  happj^  family. 
In  the  organic  relations  of  the  family,  love  and 
duty  are  fundamental — not  rights  and  liberties. 

We  may  awake,  by  and  by,  to  the  fact  that  the 
same  thing  is  true  of  the  state.  The  attempt  to 
base  a  commonwealth  upon  a  doctrine  of  rights 
will  probably  result  in  social  disintegration.  A 
community  in  which  it  is  the  first  business  of  every 
citizen  to  assert  his  own  rights  will  not  continue 
to  be  peaceful  and  prosperous.  The  social  and 
political  disorders  which  threaten  the  life  of  the 
nation  all  spring  from  the  fact  that  the  people 
have  been  trained  to  think  more  of  rights  than  of 
duties. 

By  misplacing  the  emphasis  in  the  same  way, 
Protestantism  has  introduced  into  its  life  a  dis- 
integrating element.  Neither  the  right  of  private 
judgment  nor  any  other  right  can  be  safely  asserted 
as  the  foundation  of  the  Christian  Church.  The 
foundation  of  the  Church  is  loyalty  to  Christ  and 
his  kingdom;  all  rights  are  to  be  held  and  inter- 
preted under  that  obligation.  The  failure  to  do 
this — the  assertion  of  the  individual  will  as  against 
the  common  welfare  —  has  rent  the  Church  into 
fragments  and  multiplied  creeds  and  organiza- 
tions far  beyond  all  the  needs  of  varying  tastes 

263 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

and  intellects.  We  may  admit  that  this  is  the 
opprobrium  of  Protestantism;  its  power  is  lessened 
and  its  life  is  marred  by  these  needless  divisions, 
and  by  the  unlovely  competitions  that  spring  from 
them.  But  the  last  years  of  the  century  have 
witnessed  some  serious  attempts  to  correct  these 
abuses;  some  of  the  separated  sects  have  come 
together  in  unity;  others  are  approaching  each 
other  with  friendly  overtures;  the  tendencies 
seem  now  to  be  towards  reunion  rather  than 
division.  In  Great  Britain  the  Nonconformist 
bodies  have  formed  a  strong  federation  by  which 
they  are  able  to  act  together  for  many  common 
purposes,  and  movements  are  on  foot  to  bring 
about  a  similar  organization  in  this  country.  If 
the  principle  of  differentiation  has  been  over- 
accentuated  during  the  nineteenth  century,  there 
is  now  some  reason  to  hope  that  the  twentieth 
century  will  reinforce  the  principle  of  integra- 
tion; that  loyalties  will  be  emphasized  as  much 
as  liberties,  and  the  duty  of  co-operation  rather 
more  than  the  right  of  private  judgment. 

The  past  century  has  been  a  period  of  theological 
agitation  and  upheaval  in  Protestant  Christendom. 
The  progress  of  physical  science,  the  rise  of  the 
evolutionary  philosophy,  and  the  development  of 
Biblical  criticism  have  kept  the  theologians  busy 
with  the  work  of  reconstruction.  Germany  has 
been  the  theological  storm-centre.  Kant's  tre- 
mendous work  had  been  done  before  the  century 
came  in,  but  Herder  and  Hegel  and  Schleiermacher 

264 


THE    OUTLOOK    FOR    CHRISTIANITY 

were  digging  away  at  the  foundations  in  the  early 
years,  and  those  who  have  come  after  them  have 
kept  the  air  full  of  the  noises  of  hammer  and  saw 
and  chisel  as  the  walls  have  been  going  up.  Much 
of  the  theology  "  made  in  Germany  "  has  appeared 
to  be  the  product  of  the  head  rather  than  of  the 
heart;  formal  logic  deals  rudely  with  the  facts  of 
the  spiritual  order.  But  the  great  theologians  of 
the  last  half  of  the  century,  Dorner  and  Rothe  and 
Nitzsch  and  Ritschl,  although  working  on  different 
lines,  have  abundantly  asserted  the  reality  of  the 
spiritual  realm;  and  it  is  now  possible  for  the 
educated  German  to  find  a  philosophy  of  religion 
which  reconciles  modern  science  with  the  essential 
facts  of  Christianity. 

The  most  important  religious  movement  of  the 
nineteenth  centur}T  in  England  is  a  reversion  to 
sacramentalism,  led  by  Newman  and  Pusey  and 
William  George  Ward.  Its  ruling  idea  is  that  the 
sacraments  have  power  in  themselves  to  convey 
grace  and  salvation.  This  is  essentially  the  doc- 
trine of  the  old  Church,  and  the  movement  grad- 
ually took  on  the  form  of  a  reaction ;  the  adoration 
of  the  consecrated  wafer,  prayers  for  the  dead,  the 
use  of  incense — various  Roman  Catholic  practices — 
were  adopted  one  by  one.  In  due  time  Newman 
and  Faber  and  Ward  entered  the  Catholic  com- 
munion; since  their  departure,  the  ideas  and  prac- 
tices for  which  the57  stood  have  been  rapidly  gain- 
ing ground  in  the  English  Church.  How  far 
this  doctrinal  reaction  is  likely  to  go,  it  would 

265 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

not  be  safe  to  predict.  But  it  must  be  said  of  the 
High  Church  party  that  it  is  not  wasting  all  its 
energies  upon  vestments  and  ceremonies;  it  is 
taking  hold,  in  the  most  energetic  manner,  of  the 
problems  of  society;  in  hand-to-hand  work  with 
the  needy  and  degraded  classes  it  is  doing  more, 
perhaps,  than  has  ever  been  done  by  any  other 
branch  of  the  Christian  Church  in  England. 

The  remainder  of  the  Protestants  of  Great  Britain 
— the  Broad  Churchmen,  the  Nonconformists,  the 
Scotch  Presbyterians  of  the  Established  Church 
and  of  the  United  Free  Church — with  the  entire 
Protestant  body  of  the  United  States,  have  been 
subject  to  similar  influences,  and  have  been  pass- 
ing through  similar  theological  transitions.  Some 
branches  of  the  Protestant  Church  have  been 
greatly  affected  by  the  prevailing  scientific  and 
critical  inquiries,  and  some  have  been  less  dis- 
turbed by  them,  but  the  intellectual  ferment  has 
reached  most  of  them;  and  modifications,  more  or 
less  radical,  have  been  made  in  all  their  creeds. 

These  theological  changes  are  not  wholly  due 
to  the  new  conceptions  of  the  world  and  of  man 
which  modern  science  has  introduced.  Some  of 
them,  and  these  not  the  least  important,  are  the 
fruit  of  a  purified  ethical  judgment.  The  dogmas 
of  the  Church,  as  Sabatier  has  shown,  spring  from 
the  life  of  the  Church.  If  the  Spirit  of  Christ  is 
abiding  in  the  hearts  of  his  disciples,  their  views 
of  truth  will  be  constantly  purified  and  enlarged. 
Many  of  the  changes  in  theological  theory  which 

266 


THE    OUTLOOK    FOR    CHRISTIANITY 

have  taken  place  within  the  past  century  are  to  be 
thus  explained.  The  practical  disappearance  of 
the  hard  Calvinistic  interpretations  which  were 
prevalent  in  most  of  the  Reformed  Churches  one 
hundred  years  ago  has  resulted  from  the  cultivation 
of  humaner  feelings  and  from  a  better  concep- 
tion of  the  nature  of  justice.  Philosophical!}7,  the 
change  consists  in  the  substitution  of  righteous- 
ness for  power  in  our  definitions  of  the  justice  of 
God.  The  old  theology  emphasized  the  sovereign- 
ty of  God  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  it  appear  that 
what  was  central  in  Him  was  will — His  deter- 
mination to  have  His  own  way.  "His  mere  good 
pleasure  "  was  the  decisive  element  in  His  action. 
This  theology  was  the  apotheosis  of  will.  The 
hard  fact  was  disguised  and  softened  in  many 
ways,  but  it  was  always  there;  that  was  the  nerve 
of  the  doctrine.  The  later  conceptions  emphasize 
the  righteousness  of  God  more  than  His  power. 
His  justice  is  not  chiefly  His  determination  to 
have  His  own  way;  it  is  His  determination  to  do 
right,  to  recognize  the  moral  constitution  which 
He  has  given  to  His  children,  and  to  conform  to 
that  in  His  dealings  with  them.  The  assumption, 
nowada}Ts,  always  is  that  of  Abraham — that  the 
Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  do  right,  that  which  will 
commend  itself  as  right  to  the  unperverted  moral 
sense  of  His  children.  Theology  has  been  ethi- 
cized ;  that  is  the  sum  of  it.  To-day  it  is  a  moral 
science;  one  hundred  years  ago  it  was  not.  This 
is  a  tremendous  change;  none  more  radical  or 

267 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

revolutionary  has  taken  place  in  any  of  the  sciences. 
To  be  rid  of  theories  which  required  the  damnation 
of  non-elect  infants  and  of  all  the  heathen;  which 
imputed  the  guilt  of  our  progenitors  to  their  off- 
spring ;  and  which  proclaimed  an  eternal  kingdom 
of  darkness,  ruled  by  an  evil  potentate,  whose 
ubiquity  was  but  little  short  of  omnipresence,  whose 
resources  pressed  hard  upon  omnipotence,  and 
whose  access  to  human  souls  implied  omniscience 
— is  a  great  deliverance.  The  entire  aspect  of  re- 
ligion has  changed  within  the  memory  of  many 
who  will  read  these  words.  We  are  living  under  a 
different  sky,  and  breathing  a  different  atmosphere. 
That  these  horrible  doctrines  are  obsolete  is  mani- 
fest from  the  fact  that  the  great  Scotch  Presbyterian 
Churches  have  explained  them  away,  and  that 
their  American  brethren  are  slowly  making  haste 
to  be  free  of  them.  It  is  long  since  they  have  been 
preached  to  intelligent  congregations. 

The  progress  of  Biblical  criticism  during  the 
last  quarter  of  the  past  century  has  been  rapid  and 
sometimes  disquieting.  Much  work  of  a  some- 
what fanciful  character  has  been  done,  but  a  large 
number  of  important  conclusions  are  accepted 
by  most  scholars.  The  prevailing  teaching  in 
the  theological  seminaries  of  the  Evangelical 
Churches  is  that  the  Bible  contains  a  revelation 
from  God,  in  historical  and  prophetic  documents 
of  priceless  value,  holding  truth  found  nowhere 
else,  and  making  known  to  us  the  way  and  the 
truth  and  the  life;  but  that  this  revelation  comes 

268 


THE    OUTLOOK    FOR    CHRISTIANITY 

through  human  mediation,  and  is  not  free  from 
human  imperfection;  that,  while  its  spiritual  ele- 
ments may  be  spiritually  discerned,  its  parts  are 
not  of  equal  value,  and  that  it  is  dangerous  to 
impute  to  the  whole  book  an  infallibility  which 
it  nowhere  claims.  The  new  conception  of  the 
Bible  has  undoubtedly  given  a  shock  to  many 
devout  minds,  who  have  been  accustomed  to  re- 
gard it  with  superstitious  veneration;  and  those 
who  have  been  convinced  by  the  arguments  of  the 
critics  have  not  all  learned  to  use  it  as  it  was  meant 
to  be  used — to  draw  inspiration  from  it,  instead  of 
reading  inspiration  into  it.  Those  who  will  seek 
to  be  inspired  by  it  will  find  that  it  is  inspired, 
because  it  is  inspiring;  and  there  is  reason  to  hope 
that  the  Bible  may  yet  prove,  under  the  new  theories 
of  its  origin,  a  better  witness  for  God  than  ever 
before.  It  is  well  that  He  should  not  any  longer 
be  held  responsible  for  the  human  crudities  and 
errors  which  it  contains. 

The  great  development  of  the  natural  sciences 
and  the  rise  of  the  evolutionary  theories  have  also 
had  their  effect  upon  Christian  theology.  That 
there  are  vast  numbers  of  Protestant  Christians 
who  have  been  scarcely  touched  by  these  influences 
is  true ;  but  these  influences  are  shaping  the  thought 
of  the  world,  and  it  is  impossible  that  the  theology 
of  a  living  Church  should  not  be  profoundly  af- 
fected by  them.  For  natural  science  is  simpty 
telling  us  what  God  is  doing  in  His  world,  and 
evolution  is  simply  explaining  the  way  in  which 

269 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

His  work  is  done.  At  bottom,  all  this  is  religious 
truth,  of  the  most  fundamental  character;  and,  if 
Christian  theology  is  true  theology,  it  must  include 
the  truths  of  science  and  of  evolution. 

Such  an  inclusion  makes  needful  some  impor- 
tant reconstructions  of  theological  theory.     It  sub- 
stitutes for  our  mechanical  theories  of  creation 
the  thought  of  the  immanent  God,  who,   in  the 
words  of  Paul,  is  above  all  and  through  all  and  in 
us  all;  nay,  it  gives  us  also  that  doctrine  of  the 
immanent  Christ — the  Logos,  the  infinite  reason 
and  love,  of  whom  the  same  apostle  speaks  in  words 
of   such   wonderful   significance :    "  in   whom   we 
have  our  redemption,  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins; 
who  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  first- 
born of  all  creation;  for  in  Him  were  all  things 
created,  in  the  heavens  and  upon  the  earth,  things 
visible  and  things  invisible,   whether  thrones  or 
dominions  or  principalities  or  powers;  all  things 
have  been  created  through  Him,  and  unto  Him; 
and  He  is  before  all  things,  and  in  Him  all  things 
hold  together."*    If  the  Christ-element,  the  ele- 
ment of  self-sacrificing  love,  is  the  very  matrix  of 
the  creation,  then  it  ought  not  to  surprise  us  if 
we  find  in  nature  itself  the  elements  of  sacrifice; 
and  we  do  find  them  there,  when  we  look  for  them. 
Over  against  the  struggle  for  life  is  the  struggle 
for  the  life  of  others;  vicariousness  is  at  the  heart 
of  nature.     We  begin  to  discern  some  deep  mean- 
ing in  the  mystical  saying  that  Christ  represents 
*  Col.  i.  14-17. 
270 


THE    OUTLOOK    FOR    CHRISTIANITY 

"  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world/' 
and  we  are  able  to  see  that  He  came  to  fulfil  not 
merehT  the  Levitical  law,  but  the  very  law  of  life. 
All  this  has  been,  as  yet,  but  imperfectly  worked 
out  in  our  theological  theories;  but  it  begins  to  be 
evident  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation  will 
find,  in  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  an  interpretation 
far  more  sublime  than  any  which  was  possible 
under  the  mechanical  theories  of  creation. 

In  the  development  of  Protestantism  on  its  intel- 
lectual side  there  have  been  losses  as  well  as  gains. 
Where  such  liberty  of  thinking  is  allowed,  there 
will  be  wild  and  foolish  thinking;  it  is  often  for- 
gotten that  the  principle  of  reason  is  the  principle 
of  unity,  and  not  of  division  or  denial.  There  is 
a  reasonless  conservatism,  which  clings  to  beliefs 
long  after  they  have  ceased  to  be  credible;  and 
there  is  a  rash  radicalism,  which  throws  away 
truth  untested.  Protestant  theology  has  suffered 
from  both  these  causes.  There  has  always  been, 
and  there  still  is,  much  shallow  thinking;  and, 
in  the  transitions  which  have  been  taking  place, 
some  have  lost  their  faith.  But  there  is  good  rea- 
son for  believing  that  the  Christians  of  to-day  have 
a  hold  as  firm  as  those  of  any  former  day  upon  es- 
sential Christian  truth. 

On  the  side  of  life  and  practice,  there  have  also 
been  gains  and  losses.  In  some  of  the  elements 
of  the  religious  life  we  may  be  poorer  than  our 
forefathers  were.  There  is  not  so  much  reverence 
now  as  once  there  was ;  but  there  is  less  of  slavish 

271 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

fear.  There  is  less  intense  devotional  feeling; 
but  there  are  also  fewer  cases  of  hopeless  religious 
melancholy.  We  do  not  make  so  much  of  the 
Lord's  day  as  men  once  did  in  some  sections; 
that  is  an  undoubted  loss.  Yet  there  was  a  gloom 
and  restraint  in  that  old  observance  which  we 
should  be  slow  to  recall.  We  do  not,  perhaps, 
quite  adequately  estimate  the  amount  of  irreligion 
which  prevailed  in  this  country  in  the  early  days 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  A  careful  historical 
comparison  would  reassure  those  who  suppose  that 
we  are  in  danger  of  losing  all  our  religion. 

The  development  of  the  Protestant  Churches  has 
been  intensive  as  well  as  extensive;  the  work 
of  the  local  Church  has  greatly  broadened.  The 
Church  of  to-day  is  a  far  more  efficient  instrument 
for  promoting  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  the  world 
than  was  the  Church  of  one  hundred  years  ago. 
At  that  date  the  Sunday-school  work  was  just 
beginning;  the  Church  did  nothing  for  its  own 
members  but  to  hold  two  services  on  a  Sunday,  and 
sometimes  a  week-night  service.  In  fact,  it  may 
be  said  that  the  Church  did  nothing  at  all;  all  the 
religious  work  was  done  by  the  minister.  The 
conception  that  the  Church  is  a  working  body, 
organized  for  the  service  of  the  community,  had 
hardly  entered  into  the  thought  of  the  minister  or 
of  the  members.  It  was  rather  an  ark  of  safety, 
in  which  men  found  temporary  shelter  on  their 
way  to  heaven. 

The  larger  work,  outside  of  its  immediate  fold, 
272 


THE   OUTLOOK    FOR    CHRISTIANITY 

\vas  not  contemplated.  In  1800  there  was  no 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  in  existence  on  this 
continent,  and  no  Bible  Society;  a  few  feeble  Home 
Missionary  Societies  had  just  been  formed.  There 
was  no  religious  newspaper  in  the  world.  The 
vast  outreaching  work  of  Christian  education  and 
Christian  publication  had  not  entered  into  the 
thought  of  the  churches.  Such  efficient  arms  of 
the  Christian  service  as  the  Young  Men's  and  the 
Young  Women's  Christian  Associations,  the  Socie- 
ties of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  the  Salvation  Army 
are  of  recent  origin. 

What,  then,  shall  we  say  of  the  equipment  with 
which  Christianity  sets  forth,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  twentieth  century,  for  the  conquest  of  the 
world?  Its  geographical  and  political  advan- 
tages have  been  named.  What  of  its  intellect- 
ual and  spiritual  resources?  What  of  the  appeal 
which  it  is  prepared  to  make  to  the  mind  and  heart 
of  man? 

It  may  be  assumed  that  man  is  not  only  a  po- 
litical, but  also  a  religious,  animal;  that  religion 
is  an  everlasting  reality.  Some  kind  of  religion 
men  have  alwa}Ts  had  and  will  always  have ;  things 
unseen  and  eternal  enter  into  their  lives,  and  will 
always  form  an  integral  part  of  their  experi- 
ence. We  can  hardly  look  for  the  invention  of  a 
new  religion.  Are  any  of  the  other  existing  re- 
ligious systems  more  likely  than  Christianity  to 
satisfy  the  needs  of  humanit}^?  Each  of  these 
religious  systems  contains  great  elements  of  truth 
s  273 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

and  power.  Is  any  one  of  them  better  fitted  than 
Christianity  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  human  soul? 

Christianity  has  lost  some  of  the  weapons  with 
which  it  was  doing  battle  one  hundred  years  ago. 
Its  trust  is  not  to  be  henceforth  in  an  infallible 
book;  the  arsenal  of  its  terrors  has  been  despoiled 
of  much  that  was  once  a  great  reliance;  censure 
and  coercion  can  no  longer  be  profitably  employed. 
But,  in  some  respects,  it  has  been  strengthened 
for  the  work  before  it. 

The  Christian  doctrine  has  been  greatly  sim- 
plified. The  elaborate  creeds  of  a  former  day 
are  disappearing.  The  metaphysical  puzzles,  in 
which  so  many  minds  were  once  entangled,  are 
swept  away.  It  is  now  well  understood,  among 
those  who  are  the  recognized  leaders  of  Christian 
thought,  that  the  essence  of  Christianity  is  personal 
loyalty  to  the  Master  and  obedience  to  His  law  of 
love.  Such  a  conception  prepares  the  way  for 
great  unities  and  co-operations. 

The  doctrine  of  the  divine  immanence,  when 
once  its  deeper  implications  are  understood,  must 
have  important  results  in  Christian  experience. 
The  God  in  whom  we  live  and  move  and  have  our 
being  will  not  need  to  be  certified  by  documents 
or  symbolized  by  sacraments  or  demonstrated  by 
logic;  our  knowledge  of  Him  will  be  immediate 
and  certain.  If  He  is,  indeed,  the  Life  of  all  life; 
if  He  is  "  more  present  to  all  things  He  made  than 
anything  unto  itself  can  be";  if  He  is  "the  stream 
of  tendency,  whereby  all  things  fulfil  the  law  of 

274 


THE    OUTLOOK    FOR    CHRISTIANITY 

their  being";  if  He  is  really  "working  in  us,  to 
will  and  to  do  of  His  good  pleasure/'  then  life  pos- 
sesses a  sacredness  and  a  significance  which  few 
of  us  have  yet  conceived.  This  truth  sanctifies  and 
glorifies  the  whole  of  life.  It  is  the  truth  which 
lies  at  the  heart  of  what  is  known  as  the  "new 
theology";  and,  if  the  Christian  pulpit  can  but 
grasp  it  and  realize  it,  we  shall  have  such  a 
revival  of  religion  as  the  world  has  never  seen. 

The  God  who  is  over  all  and  through  all  and 
in  us  all  is  known  to  the  Christian  Church  of  to- 
day as  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
It  is  through  the  spirit  that  we  know  Him,  and 
He  is  the  Father  of  spirits ;  His  character  is  revealed 
to  us  in  the  life  and  words  of  Jesus;  our  relation 
to  Him  is  shown  us  in  the  filial  trust  of  Jesus,  and 
our  relation  to  one  another  springs  from  this  re- 
lation. The  two  truths  of  the  divine  Fatherhood 
and  the  human  Brotherhood  are  the  central  truths 
of  Christian  theology  to-day.  This  has  never 
before  been  true.  Men  have  always  been  calling 
God  Father,  but  in  their  theories  they  have  been 
making  Him  monarch.  He  was  as  much  of  a 
Father  as  He  could  be  consistently  with  his  func- 
tions as  an  absolute  sovereign.  The  sovereignty 
was  the  dominant  fact ;  the  Fatherhood  was  subor- 
dinate. All  this  is  changed.  It  is  believed  to-day 
that  there  can  be  no  sovereignty  higher  than  father- 
hood, and  no  law  stronger  than  love. 

The  doctrine  must  have  vast  social  consequences. 
When  it  is  once  fully  accepted,  and  all  that  it  im- 

275 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

plies  is  recognized  and  enforced,  society  will  be 
regenerated  and  redeemed.  If  all  men  are,  indeed, 
brothers,  and  owe  to  one  another,  in  every  rela- 
tion, brotherly  kindness;  if  there  is  but  one  law 
of  human  association  —  "Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself";  if  every  man's  business 
in  the  world  is  to  give  as  much  as  he  can,  rather 
than  to  get  as  much  as  he  can,  then  the  drift  of 
human  society  must  now  be  in  wrong  directions, 
and  there  is  need  of  a  reformation  which  shall 
start  from  the  centres  of  life  and  thought.  We 
need  not  so  much  new  machinery,  as  new  ideals 
of  personal  obligation. 

This  idea  that  Christ  has  come  to  save  the  world ; 
that  His  mission  is  not  to  gather  his  elect  out  of 
the  world  and  then  burn  it  up,  but  to  establish 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  here,  and  that  it  is  es- 
tablished by  making  the  law  of  love  the  regula- 
tive principle  of  all  the  business  of  life,  is  prac- 
tically a  new  idea.  Many,  here  and  there,  have 
tentatively  held  it,  and  their  faltering  attempts 
to  live  by  it  have  produced  what  we  have  had  of 
the  precious  fruits  of  peace  and  good  will  among 
men.  Charity  and  philanthropy  have  not  been 
unknown;  the  spirit  of  Christ  has  found  in  them 
a  beautiful  expression;  within  that  realm  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  has  been  set  up.  What  we 
need  to  learn  is  the  truth  that  the  law  of  love  gov- 
erns the  factory  as  well  as  the  hospital;  that  the 
statesman  and  the  economist  must  reckon  with  it, 
no  less  than  the  preacher  and  philanthropist. 

276 


THE  OUTLOOK  FOR  CHRISTIANITY 

Such  is  the  issue  which  the  logic  of  events  is 
forcing  upon  the  Christian  Church.  Christianity 
must  rule  or  abdicate.  If  it  cannot  give  the  law 
to  society,  the  world  has  no  need  of  it.  Not  by 
might  nor  by  power  can  its  empire  be  established; 
only  by  clear  witnessing  to  the  supremacy  of  love. 
But  the  time  has  come  when  there  must  be  no 
faltering  in  this  testimony.  Hitherto,  it  has 
hardly  dared  to  say  that  Love  is  King;  the  king- 
doms of  this  world  have  been  conceded  to  Mammon. 
With  the  dawning  of  the  new  century  comes  the 
deepening  conviction  that  the  rule  of  Mammon 
never  can  bring  order  and  peace;  and  it  begins 
to  be  credible  that  the  way  of  the  Christ  is  the 
way  of  life,  for  industry  as  well  as  for  charity, 
for  nations  as  well  as  for  men. 

That  the  principle  of  the  Christian  morality  is 
the  foundation  of  the  social  order,  and  that  society 
will  never  be  at  peace  until  it  rests  on  this  foun- 
dation, is  the  claim  which  Christianity  is  now  pre- 
pared to  make.  The  ground  of  our  hope  for  the 
continuance  and  prevalence  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion lies  in  the  conviction  that  it  will  be  able  to 
make  good  this  claim. 

WAvSHINGTON  GLADDEN. 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

ONE  of  the  most  ancient  images  of  the  Christian 
Church  is  that  of  a  ship  tossed  about  on  the  waves, 
yet  never  sinking.  This  image  was  painted  more 
than  once  on  the  walls  of  the  Roman  catacombs, 
precisely  when  it  seemed  as  if  Christianity  could 
not  possibly  hold  out  much  longer  against  the 
impact  of  social  and  juridical  forces  that  had 
sworn  its  extermination.  Nevertheless,  the  Fish- 
erman of  Galilee,  with  his  brethren,  survived  this 
first  great  hurricane  of  opposition,  and  planted 
the  victorious  symbol  of  the  new  religion  on  the 
Capitol  and  the  Palatine — over  the  shrine  of  Roman 
religion,  and  amid  the  councils  of  the  Roman 
state.  On  the  morrow  of  this  first  great  reckoning 
of  the  new  spirit  in  mankind  with  the  old  established 
forms  of  belief  and  government,  a  tremor  of  as- 
tonishment seized  on  the  priests  and  philosophers 
of  the  pagan  world,  that  an  obscure  Syrian  sect 
should  have  at  last  lifted  a  triumphant  head. 
It  seemed  as  though  all  the  criteria  of  mankind 
— common-sense,  logic,  reason,  history,  analogy 
— were  at  once  and  hopelessly  shattered,  and  a 
wonder-world  set  up  in  the  place  of  the  familiar 

281 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

realities  of  society.  It  is  an  old  story  how  the 
few  remaining  pagans  hoped  against  hope,  until 
they  saw  the  fall  of  the  whole  fabric  of  Western 
civilization,  and  the  figure  of  a  Universal  Church 
interposed  between  organized  society  and  the 
elemental  forces  of  barbarism  that  threatened  it 
from  the  North  and  East.  In  those  all-embracing 
arms,  the  world  of  Greece  and  Rome,  that  thought 
to  perish  doubly,  was  firmly  seized  and  made  to 
live  again. 

Since  that  day  Christianity  has  dominated 
all  modern  history.  Its  morality,  based  on  the 
loving  kindness  of  an  Eternal  Father  and  the 
mystic  brotherhood  with  the  God-Man,  has  ren- 
ovated the  face  of  the  earth.  It  has  set  firmly 
the  corner-stone  for  all  future  civilization,  the 
conviction  of  a  common  humanity  that  has  been 
deeply  rooted  in  us  by  no  stoicism,  but  by  the 
story  of  Jesus  Christ  and  by  the  lives  and  deaths 
of  countless  Christian  men  and  women.  It  has 
clarified  at  once  the  sense  of  sin  and  the  reasons 
for  hope.  It  has  touched  the  deepest  springs  of 
efficient  conviction;  preached  successfully,  in 
season  and  out  of  season,  of  mercy  and  justice 
and  peace;  affected  intimately  every  function  of 
domestic  life;  thrown  a  sheltering  veil  of  sanctity 
about  maid  and  mother  and  home;  stood  out 
against  the  fierce  ambitions  and  illicit  loves  of 
rulers  and  the  low  passions  of  the  multitude. 
It  has  healed  and  cleansed  whole  legislations, 
and  "filled  out  with  a  vivifying  spirit"  the  noble 

282 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

but  inorganic  letter  of  great  maxims  that  a  Seneca 
or  an  Epictetus  might  utter,  but  could  not  cause 
to  live.  It  has  distinctly  raised  the  social  and 
civil  life  of  all  civilized  humankind.  It  bears 
within  itself  the  antidote  of  a  certain  divine  pres- 
ence, whereby  it  overcomes  forever  those  germs 
of  decay  and  change  that  cause  the  death  of  all 
other  societies.  Its  earliest  writers  and  exponents 
had  a  subtle  sense  of  its  true  character,  when  they 
took  over  from  paganism,  and  applied  to  the  work 
of  Jesus,  the  symbolic  myth  of  the  phoenix,  em- 
blem of  a  native  organic  and  indestructible  vitality. 
If  we  believe  the  eminent  statistician,  Mr.  Michael 
G.  Mulhall,  the  population  of  the  world  in  1898 
was  1,450,000,000.  Of  these,  764,500,000  were  yet 
pagans,  nearly  all  located  in  Asia  (667,800,000) 
and  in  Africa  (91,000,000).  In  Europe  there  are 
none  who  can  be  officially  described  as  pagans; 
in  Oceanica  there  are  4,400,000,  and  in  America 
1,300,000.  Therefore,  on  its  oldest  and  most  fa- 
vorable field,  the  only  tenable  forms  of  paganism 
have  gone  down  absolutely  before  the  shining  of 
Christian  truth,  a  symbol  of  what  we  may  hope 
for  in  the  future  over  the  two  continents  yet  ad- 
dicted to  paganism.  The  Christians  of  the  world 
number  501,600,000,  of  whom  348,500,000  belong 
to  Europe,  126,400,000  to  America,  with  a  scatter- 
ing of  12,600,000  in  Asia,  4,400,000  in  Africa, 
9,700,000  in  Oceanica.  That  is,  the  most  en- 
lightened and  progressive  portion  of  the  Old  World, 
Europe,  with  its  noble  adult  daughter  in  the  New 

283 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

World,  is  still  entirely  Christian,  after  nearly 
sixteen  centuries  of  external  struggle  against  the 
forces  of  barbarism  and  Islam,  and  internal  strug- 
gles of  the  deepest  and  most  momentous  nature. 
As  the  future  of  humanity  rests  henceforth  in 
the  hands  of  the  men  who  guide,  politically  and 
intellectually,  the  society  of  Europe  and  the  New 
World  of  North  and  South  America,  I  cannot 
but  see  in  this  distribution  and  preponderance 
of  the  Christian  masses  an  omen  of  great  hope- 
fulness for  the  future  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ. 
I  know  that  there  is  not  now  that  absolute  unity 
of  the  Christian  multitudes  that  once  existed  and 
is  yet  the  necessary,  indispensable,  ideal  condi- 
tion of  that  religion.  I  shall  come  directly  to  this 
fundamental  point.  But  I  feel  justified  in  be- 
lieving that,  among  these  five  hundred  millions 
of  Christians,  there  are  rough,  imperfect,  un- 
finished unities  of  tradition,  practice,  and  spirit; 
that  they  all  look  up  to  the  Son  of  Mary  as  the 
Redeemer  of  humanity;  that  He  marks  for  them 
the  true  line  of  delimitation  between  the  Old  and 
the  New;  that  in  and  through  Him  is  the  firm 
bond  of  union  that  holds  us  all  to  a  common  Father, 
a  Giver  of  all  good  things,  and  a  purif}ring,  in- 
flaming Spirit,  that  acts  in  a  manifold  but  mystic 
manner  on  all  who  have  in  any  way  confessed 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  True  God  and  True  Man. 

Were  this  unity  perfect  among  Christians, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  long  since  the  whole 
world  would  have  been  won  over  to  the  Gospel  of 

284 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

Jesus,  that  its  sweet  influences  would  have  trans- 
muted all  the  hardness  and  imperfections  of  our 
common  humanity,  by  lifting  us  all  into  that 
higher  spiritual  sphere  of  brotherhood  with  the 
Redeemer  of  our  souls,  and  sonship  with  the  Head 
of  our  race.  It  is  this  lack  of  unity  among  Chris- 
tians that  makes  it  even  possible  for  any  other 
religion,  old  or  new,  to  set  up  a  comparison  with 
it,  to  challenge  its  immortal  titles  to  admiration 
and  acceptance.  For  lack  of  unity,  the  impact 
of  the  missionary  labors  is  broken,  and  the  in- 
credible sacrifices  of  Christian  men  and  women 
must  be  repeated,  often  in  vain,  from  generation 
to  generation.  This  defect  of  our  Christianity  it 
is  which  enables  the  savage  man,  as  well  as  the 
man  of  a  foreign  culture,  to  escape  the  arguments 
and  appeals  of  the  Christian  apostle.  It  also  ren- 
ders almost  nugatory  the  efforts  of  Christianity, 
on  its  original  soil,  to  dominate  even  the  most 
tangible  forces  of  the  world  and  the  devil. 

The  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ  himself 
have  nothing  but  victories  to  chronicle  since  His 
appearance  among  men.  Ever}7  century  is  a  new 
campaign  from  which  He  returns  to  the  Heavenly 
Father,  crowned  with  innumerable  laurels,  and 
leading  captive  innumerable  multitudes  of  human 
souls.  The  records  of  history  are  full  of  the  most 
astonishing  conquests  by  Him  of  individual  souls, 
voluntary  submissions  to  the  irresistible  charm 
of  the  Son  of  Man.  There  is  no  altitude  of  intellect 
so  towering  that  it  has  not  bent  before  Him,  no 

285 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

seat  of  power  so  high  that  it  has  not  done  homage 
to  Him.  Philosophy  and  criticism,  history  and 
the  natural  sciences,  have  sent  over  to  Him,  without 
ceasing,  their  noblest  worthies  as  pledges  of  victory. 
To  go  no  further  back  than  the  century  just  elapsed, 
we  may  say  that  every  page  of  its  annals  is  bright 
with  the  illustrious  names  of  great  men  who  have 
been  proud  to  confess  the  divinity  of  Jesus.  Some 
of  them  never  knew  a  wavering  of  allegiance; 
others  came  back  to  Him  by  a  kind  of  postliminary 
process,  having  learned  by  hard  experience  the 
truth  of  the  apostolic  cry  of  Saint  Peter :  "  Lord, 
to  whom  shall  we  go?  Thou  hast  the  words  of 
eternal  life."  *  From  this  point  of  view  there 
is  never  any  diminution  of  the  work  of  Jesus 
Christ.  His  benign  and  gracious  figure  domi- 
nates forever  all  life  and  society.  Scarcely,  in- 
deed, was  He  known  to  the  world  when  we  are 
told  that  He  won  the  personal  admiration  of  great 
Roman  emperors  like  Tiberius  and  Hadrian  and 
Alexander  Severus.  Sweet  legends  of  the  venera- 
tion of  an  Augustus  and  an  Abgar  cling  forever 
to  His  person — symbols  of  that  constant  self- 
surrender  in  love  and  adoration  which  has  gone 
on  since  then,  and  will  cease  no  more. 

What  is  the  secret  of  this  constant  and  cos- 
mopolitan devotion  to  Jesus?  From  what  deep 
springs  of  history  and  human  nature  do  the  forces 
flow  that  keep  it  forever  alive,  in  spite  of  the  mul- 
titudinous accidents  of  time  and  space  and  change 

*  John  vi.  69. 
286 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

that  affect  so  thoroughly  all  other  phenomena  of 
life?  Securus  judicat  orbis  terrarum.  It  can  be 
no  slight  bond  that  holds  forever  such  elastic 
and  elusive  forces  as  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men, 
in  varying  epochs  and  lands,  periods,  forms  and 
degrees  of  culture.  To  all  Catholics,  it  is  as  sim- 
ple as  the  sun  that  shines  in  the  heavens,  or  as  the 
air  we  breathe. 

To  us,  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ — for  we 
maintain,  on  the  authority  of  the  gospels,  that 
He  founded  a  religion — is  no  vague  resultant  of 
world  -  forces  that  found  their  proper  time  and 
suitable  expression  in  the  Son  of  Mary.  Indeed, 
the  first  great  domestic  struggle  of  the  new  re- 
ligion was  against  just  those  loose,  unclear  forces 
of  Gnosticism  and  Eclecticism  that  desired  to 
fasten  their  djang  causes  to  the  vigorous  young 
body  of  Christian  Faith,  but  which  she  repelled 
with  clear  consciousness  of  their  desire  and  of 
her  repugnance.  To  us,  Christianity  is  no  philos- 
oph}7,  however  elevated  and  potent,  but  a  divine 
thing  in  the  sense  of  an  immediate,  positive  rev- 
elation. Hence,  in  its  earliest  documents,  it 
is  known  as  "The  Name,"  "The  Work,"  "The 
Manifestation"  of  an  Omnipotent  Divine  Will, 
the  closest  and  sublimest  bond  that  can  unite  the 
divinity  with  mankind.  From  among  the  philos- 
ophers of  the  world,  there  could  never  come  a 
Redeemer.  And  this  is  precisely  what  we  wel- 
come in  Jesus  Christ,  the  figure  and  the  office 
of  a  Divine  Atoner  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  the 

287 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

Saviour  of  mankind  from  the  inherited  and  actual 
burden  of  sin. 

Hence  it  is  that  Christianity  is  the  most  intensely 
personal  of  all  religions.  It  presumes,  as  no  other, 
the  unwavering  belief  in  and  concern  for  an  im- 
mortal and  responsible  individual  soul,  the  con- 
fession of  an  Omniscient  and  All- Just  Judge,  a 
known  and  possible  code  of  conduct,  and  a  clearly 
apprehended  sanction  that  waits  upon  the  viola- 
tion or  neglect  of  that  code.  The  ideal  of  the 
individual  Christian  is  the  imitation  of  Jesus 
Christ,  "the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  first- 
born of  every  creature,  .  .  .  the  head  of  all 
principality  and  power,  .  .  .  for  in  Him 
dwelleth  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  corporally."* 
And,  inasmuch  as  He  realizes  in  His  own  person 
and  circle  of  influence  this  sublime  model,  Chris- 
tianity may  be  said  to  live  or  die  for  Him. 

But  how  shall  the  individual  follower  of  Jesus 
know  His  will,  and,  knowing  it,  follow  it  perfectly? 
For  this  purpose  Jesus  formed  a  visible  society, 
destined  to  embrace  all  who  would  accept  Him 
as  God  and  Master.  He  gave  it  the  powrer  to  re- 
produce and  continue  itself,  and  conveyed  to  it 
the  custody  of  His  teaching  and  the  example  of 
His  life,  with  vicarious  authority  to  interpret 
both  in  time  of  need,  and  to  decide  with  finality. 
To  its  court  of  appeal  He  indicated  not  only  the 
letter  but  the  spirit  of  its  procedure.  He  assured 
this  society  of  His  helpful  presence  forever,  and 

*  Col.  i.  18 ;   ii.  9,  10. 
288 


CATHOLIC     CHRISTIANITY 

also  of  the  direction  and  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  He  foretold  for  it  a  career  of  great  trial 
and  sorrow,  but  also  foreshadowed  for  it  periods 
of  triumph  and  glory.  But,  above  all,  He  imposed 
on  it  the  absolute  condition  of  unity.  This  is 
evident,  not  only  from  all  His  devices  of  constitu- 
tion and  description  throughout  the  gospels,  but, 
in  a  very  particular  manner,  from  the  great  lyrical, 
almost  dithyrambic,  monologue  in  which,  on  the 
eve  of  His  Atonement,  He  pours  forth  the  very 
soul  of  prayer  to  the  Heavenly  Father.*  Here 
the  underlying  motif  is  unity,  that  shadow  of  the 
divine  life,  the  condition  of  the  new  sanctity,  the 
mark  and  proof  of  genuine  Christianity. 

"  And  not  for  them  only  do  I  pray,  but  for  them  also  who 

through  their  word  shall  believe  in  me: 
That  they  all  may  be  one,  as  thou,  Father,  in  me,  and  I  in 

thee :  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us :  that  the  world 

may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me. 
And  the  glory  which  thou  hast  given  me,  I  have  given  to 

them :  that  they  may  be  one,  as  we  also  are  one." 

Elsewhere,  He  insists  that  there  shall  be  one 
fold  and  one  shepherd,  that  whoever  gathers  not 
with  Him  scattereth,  that  whoever  receives  His 
disciples  "receives  me  and  Him  who  sent  me." 
There  can  be  no  doubt,  then,  as  to  an  effective 
will  of  Jesus  that  this  society  should  be  one  to 
the  end  of  time,  and  among  all  kinds  and  condi- 
tions of  men.  It  was  also  to  be  holy  and  stainless, 
imperishable  and  all  -  glorious,  self  -  identical  and 

*  John  xvii.  20-23. 
T  289 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

self -witnessing ;  but  the  note  of  unity  predominates 
throughout.  His  prophetic  soul  forecasts  and 
denounces  every  attempt  to  rend  this  unity,  as 
the  chief  obstacle  to  the  success  of  His  life  and 
teaching  among  men,  as  the  great  stumbling- 
block,  the  creators  of  which  He  will  hold  eminently 
responsible  in  the  last  great  accounting. 

Now,  when  we  enter  upon  the  last  century  of 
the  mystic  cycle  of  two  thousand  years  during 
which  the  gospel  of  Jesus  has  been  preached, 
principally  by  and  through  this  society  which  is 
His  Holy  Church,*  we  seize  with  a  terrible  earnest- 
ness and  directness  the  meaning  of  Christ's  lan- 
guage about  unity.  Just  as  that  note  dominates 
all  others  in  the  gospels,  so  does  its  infringement 
or  diminution  dominate  the  history  of  His  Church, 
the  public  propagation  of  His  saving  and  consol- 
ing teachings.  The  avowedly  anti-Christian  forces 
of  the  past  two  centuries  could  never  have  scored 
their  triumphs  were  it  not  for  the  mighty  cleft 
that  divided  Protestant  from  Catholic  Christendom. 
While  conflict  ran  high  as  to  the  points  on  which 
they  differed,  the  enemy  was  pillaging  such  parts 
of  the  original  estate  as  they  3Tet  held  in  common. 
The  Christian  Church  was,  truly,  the  mother  of 
all  modern  happiness  and  liberty;  yet  a  minority 
of  rebels  or  apostates  was  allowed  to  set  aside  her 
claims,  to  contaminate  all  the  sources  of  public 
and  private  education,  to  enlist  against  her  the 
literature  and  the  arts  that  she  had  saved  and 
*  Eph.  v.  27. 
290 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

cherished  in  a  night  of  storm  and  disaster.  And 
all  this,  because  centuries  of  unhappy  division  had 
accustomed  both  Catholics  and  Protestants  to  look 
to  one  another  only  for  suspicion  and  coldness 
and  uncharity.  Truly,  the  divine  eye  of  Jesus 
saw  well  through  the  ages,  and  what  He  saw  could 
only  have  intensified  His  will  to  base  His  Church 
upon  a  rock  of  unity  that  could  not  be  overthrown. 
Could  we  restore  to-day  the  former  unity  of  all 
Christian  peoples,  with  what  ease  we  could  look 
forth  to  the  lifting  of  China  to  the  highest  plane  of 
Christian  welfare  and  culture!  Could  we  be  once 
more  as  in  the  fifteenth  century,  with  what  ease 
could  the  gospel  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  be  preached 
throughout  Africa  from  the  lips  of  united  brethren, 
and  not  amid  the  horrors  of  injustice  and  war  that 
are  leaving  their  ominous,  red  tracks  across  every 
newly  opened  land !  So,  too,  if  there  were  again  the 
old-time  unity  of  East  and  West,  what  a  quicken- 
ing there  could  be  of  the  slumbering  forces  of  the 
Greek  Church,  and  what  a  useful  race  the  Coptic 
Christians  would  be  for  the  evangelization  of  Dark- 
est Africa!  Whatever  way  we  look,  the  functions 
of  unity  seem  so  great  and  valuable  that  all  the 
reasons  which  in  the  past  operated  to  destroy  it  are 
pushed  into  the  background,  as  no  longer  worthy  of 
consideration.  Indeed,  as  time  wrears  on,  and 
men  take  a  broader  and  more  philosophic  view  of 
things,  it  will  be  seen  that  each  individual  schism 
or  heresy  was  less  necessary  or  justifiable,  in  the 
light  of  the  magnificent  horizon  of  possible  efforts 

291 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

and  enterprises  that  is  now  dawning  upon  us,  but 
to  which  we  are  unable  to  reach  by  reason  of  our 
lack  of  thorough  and  durable  unity.  Can  any 
genuine  Christian  contemplate  with  equanimity 
the  sad  results  that  the  Monophysitism  of  the  fifth 
and  sixth  centuries  has  entailed  upon  the  churches 
of  the  Orient  by  its  substantial  contribution  to  the 
success  of  Islam,  and  thereby  upon  all  Christian 
society,  mediaeval  and  modern?  There  is  in  all 
such  cases  an  encysting  of  the  general  Christian 
spirit  and  strength,  a  gradual  hardening  and  crys- 
tallizing of  all  those  currents  of  enthusiasm  and 
daring  that  once  poured  in  from  the  great  main 
flow  of  Christian  grace,  a  steady  uplifting  of  walls 
of  separation  that  can  only  render  more  narrow, 
if  in  some  cases  more  deep  and  intense,  the  tides  of 
Christian  life,  thought,  endeavor. 

To  the  Catholic,  the  unity  of  the  Church,  that 
especial  desire  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  based  upon  the 
Rock  of  Peter.  He  finds  the  reasons  for  his  belief 
in  the  Petrine  headship  of  the  Apostolic  College, 
in  the  special  promises  and  privileges  accorded  to 
Peter  by  Our  Lord,  in  the  peculiar  activity  of  Peter 
and  the  pre-eminence  that  he  obtains  in  the  in- 
spired records  of  primitive  Christian  life.  No  other 
See  than  that  of  Peter  ever  laid  claim  to  a  hegemony 
over  Christianity,  while,  from  the  earliest  days, 
that  See  claimed  this  supreme  ascendency.  The 
last  chapters  of  St.  Clement's  epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians (circa  A.D.  96),  the  almost  contemporary 
epistle  of  St.  Ignatius  of  Antioch  to  the  Romans, 

292 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

the  famous  description  by  St.  Irenaeus  of  the  Roman 
Church  as  the  oldest,  greatest,  most  glorious,  and 
most  authoritative  of  all  the  apostolic  churches,  are 
only  a  few  among  many  indications  of  the  right  of 
supreme  leadership  that  archaic  Christian  society 
adjudged  to  the  See  of  Rome. 

Doubtless,  in  the  infancy  of  Christendom,  this 
supremacy  was  chiefly  visible  in  the  mystic  pomp 
of  martyrdom  and  the  organized  services  of  charity. 
But  it  was  an  organic  and  native  right,  and  could 
therefore  adapt  itself,  as  it  did,  to  all  the  actual 
needs  of  Christian  society,  as  they  developed  from 
internal  growth  or  under  pressure  from  without. 
The  little  pseudo-Cyprian  tract,  Against  Gamesters, 
is  an  index  that,  before  Constantine,  they  claimed 
to  rule  the  "Power  of  the  Keys."  In  its  spirit, 
this  very  ancient  discourse  of  a  Roman  bishop 
does  not  differ  from  any  formula  of  Leo  the  Great. 
Yet  Eusebius  is  guarantee  that  this  power  was 
chiefly  exercised  over  the  churches  by  acts  of 
charity  that  extended  from  the  apostolic  times  down 
to  his  own  day.  I  need  not  rehearse  the  functions 
of  Rome  at  a  later  period,  in  repressing  the  most 
disruptive,  anti-Christian  heresies,  in  the  conver- 
sion and  instruction  of  the  barbarians,  in  the  forma- 
tion of  their  rulers  and  their  laws,  in  the  uplifting 
and  idealizing  of  the  incipient  national  lives  of 
France,  Germany,  England,  and  Spain.  Writing 
in  1808,  Tobler  could  say  that,  without  the  papacy, 
there  would  not  have  remained  in  the  world  any 
universal  religion,  faith  would  have  entirely  dis- 

293 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

appeared.  And  the  contemporary  Swiss  historian, 
the  great  Johann  von  Miiller,  could  write  that  their 
paternal  hands  held  up  bravely  the  whole  hierarchy, 
and  at  the  same  time  preserved  the  liberty  of  all 
the  states  of  Europe.  "It  was  the  pope  who  re- 
strained and  governed,  by  means  of  the  principles 
of  religion  and  the  fear  of  God,  the  bold,  unbridled 
youth  of  our  modern  states."  The  Gregories, 
Alexanders,  and  Innocents  of  the  Middle  Ages 
were,  indeed,  as  a  wall  against  the  torrent  of  ab- 
solutism that  then  threatened  to  invade  the  whole 
earth.  If,  in  the  weakness  of  mediaeval,  popular 
organization,  the  insidious  despotism  of  the  Orient 
failed  to  prevail  in  the  courts  of  the  West,  it  was 
because  the  violent  and  lascivious  nobles  were 
forever  held  in  check  by  the  fear  or  the  respect 
of  him  who  sat  in  the  chair  of  Peter.  And,  when 
the  awful  cataclysm  of  the  Reformation  took  place, 
it  was  still  the  insight,  genius,  and  energy  of  Rome 
that  kept  intact  a  solid  phalanx  of  Catholicism, 
through  all  the  defections  and  apostasies  of  a  cen- 
tury. 

The  average  non-Catholic  does  not  easily  seize 
the  point  of  view  from  which  the  Roman  Catholic 
looks  on  the  pope.  To  us,  he  is  the  divinely  ap- 
pointed High  Court  of  Appeals  of  Christendom, 
the  "  Dominus  Apostolicus, "  or  living  embodiment 
of  the  supreme,  vicarious  authority  of  the  Apostolic 
College.  Hence,  we  measure  the  progress  or  decay 
of  the  Christian  cause  and  interest,  very  largely, 
by  the  condition  of  the  Roman  See.  It  is  for  us 

294 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

the  working  heart  of  Christendom.  And  the 
words  of  affection  and  veneration  that  we  use 
when  speaking  of  it  we  believe  to  be  justified  by  its 
eminently  paternal  character  and  spirit,  its  origin, 
its  age,  its  manifold  experience,  its  countless  ser- 
vices to  the  virtuous  and  the  oppressed,  its  supra- 
national functions.  For  its  sake,  we  have  imitated 
the  Geux  of  Holland,  and  converted  a  title  of  re- 
proach into  a  title  of  distinction.  Every  Catholic 
bishop  knows,  by  history  and  by  instinct,  that  his 
strength  and  dignity  are  dependent  on  the  strength 
and  dignity  of  the  pope.  And  the  latter  knows, 
in  turn,  that  his  first  duty  is  the  confirmation  of 
the  bishops  in  faith  and  enthusiasm.* 

The  last  great  storm  through  which  our  Catholic 
Christianity  has  gone  was  the  French  Revolution. 
The  brunt  of  this  was  borne  by  the  See  of  Rome. 
Two  popes,  Pius  VI.  and  Pius  VII.,  learned  in 
their  own  persons  what  the  agony  and  the  glory  of 
martyrdom  are  like.  To  their  personal  courage 
and  independence  is  very  largely  owing  the  re- 
crudescence of  Catholic  affection  for  a  See  which, 
in  these  bishops,  showed  itself  truly  apostolic.  We 
consider  that  it  is  owing  to  the  extreme  watch- 
fulness and  foresight  of  the  popes  in  this  century 
that  schism  and  heresy  have  been  so  little  in  evi- 
dence. More  than  one  source  or  cause  of  these 
great  disruptions  has  showed  itself.  But,  from 
whatever  quarter  the  danger  threatened,  it  was 
conquered  by  the  action  of  the  Apostolic  See.  In 

*  Luke  xxii.  31,  32. 
295 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  mean  time  the  numbers  of  its  adherents  have 
grown  with  the  growth  of  the  world,  and  may  be 
set  down  at  the  opening  of  the  twentieth  centuty 
as  more  than  one-half  of  the  five  hundred  millions 
who  bear  the  name  of  Christians.*  Nowhere, 
perhaps,  is  this  phenomenal  growth  more  notice- 
able than  among  the  English-speaking  peoples. 
From  the  most  insignificant  place  in  the  statistics 
of  Catholicism,  they  have  come  in  this  century 
to  count  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  bishops,  in  a 
total  of  less  than  one  thousand ;  and,  from  a  hand- 
ful of  believers  outside  of  Ireland,  to  be  more  than 
twenty-one  millions,  with  over  twenty-one  thousand 
priests  and  more  than  eighteen  thousand  churches,  t 
To  this  large  and  compact  body,  habituated  to 
look  on  Christianity  as  a  living  organism  of  which 
they  are  integrant  parts,  the  pope  represents  all 
the  counsel,  experience,  sympathy,  glory,  and 
also  the  sufferings  of  the  past.  No  other  figure 
in  the  modern  world  so  rouses  the  hearts  of  men  as 
the  venerable  bishop  who  dwells  in  the  Vatican,  the 
Shepherd  of  Humanity,  the  only  voice  that  to-day, 

*  At  the  late  Australasian  Catholic  Congress,  Mr.  Michael  G. 
Mulhall  declared  that,  of  the  501,600,000  Christians  in  the  world, 
290,000,000  were  Roman  Catholics. 

t  In  a  work  lately  published  by  Messrs.  Sw?m  &  Sonnenschein, 
of  London,  I  find  the  following  statistics  of  conversions  to  Catholi- 
cism within  fifty  years  from  among  the  higher  classes  of  English 
society :  "  Since  1850,"  it  is  there  said,  "  the  persons  who  have 
gone  over  to  the  Church  of  Rome  include  445  graduates  of  Oxford, 
213  of  Cambridge,  and  63  of  other  universities,  besides  27  peers, 
244  military  officers,  162  authors,  129  lawyers,  and  60  physicians. 
Among  the  graduates  were  446  clergymen  of  the  Established 
Church." 

296 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

in  the  midst  of  universal  religious  decay,  can 
speak  to  all  society  with  an  archaic  authority,  an 
unparalleled  experience,  and  a  universal  good- 
will that  all  must  recognize,  if  they  do  not  obey. 
His  genuine  wrongs  and  sufferings  must  some 
day  be  redressed,  for  they  have  an  intimate  re- 
lationship with  the  wrongs  and  sufferings  that 
the  common  people  everywhere  loudly  proclaim 
that  they  themselves  are  compelled  to  bear.  It 
is  an  eternally  true  law  of  history  that  any  signal 
violation  of  justice  avenges  itself  eventually  upon 
all  human  society,  and  demands  an  equally  signal 
reparation. 

Catholic  students  of  history  and  politics  agree 
that  there  is  a  remarkable  unity  of  purpose  and 
means,  a  keenness  and  directness  of  vision,  in 
the  onslaughts  which  were  made  upon  the  papacy 
during  the  past  century,  and  that  ended  in  the 
utter  destruction  of  its  public  status  as  a  civil 
power.  But  they  know,  too,  that  the  peace,  hap- 
piness, and  prosperity  assured  by  the  doctrinaires 
and  sectaries  of  the  whole  century  are  not  yet  the 
lot  of  that  nation  which  has  been  built  over  the 
grave  of  the  pope's  old  and  venerable  political 
authority.  They  rightly  suspect,  from  the  analogy 
of  the  past,  the  character  of  the  peoples  of  the  penin- 
sula, and  the  scope  of  those  who  yei  detain  his 
political  authority,  that  the  measure  of  the  popular 
sufferings  of  Italy  is  not  filled  up.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  peoples  of  all  Europe  are  threatened  with 
evils  of  the  same  nature.  The  men  who  sit  in  the 

297 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

high  places  of  these  nations  speak  with  little  hope 
of  the  near  future.  Militarism,  that  has  always 
ended  in  despotism,  and  a  godless  industrialism, 
that  must  needs  breed  popular  envy  and  hatred, 
lift  their  heads  with  pride  and  assurance  of  future 
domination.  Again  an  era  of  force,  cloaked  but 
poorly  by  a  coarse  luxury  and  license,  dawns  upon 
the  Continental  nations,  with  all  its  sure  subversion 
of  hardly  conquered  popular  rights  and  liberties, 
and  the  equally  sure  retaliation  of  the  oppressed. 
The  Roman  Catholic  is  convinced  that  all  these 
evils  which  seriously  threaten  Christian  Europe  are 
owing  to  the  popular  neglect  of  the  simple  and 
sane  principles  of  the  gospel,  their  quasi-official 
expulsion  from  public  life,  the  fatal  assumption 
that  there  can  be  a  sufficient  and  working  moral- 
ity without  religion  and  worship — that  is,  without 
public  recognition  of  God,  as  Creator,  Father,  Pro- 
vider, and  Saviour.  To  him,  the  symbol  of  this 
secular  activity  is  the  degradation  and  humiliation 
of  the  one  great  force  that  stood  publicly  and  of- 
ficially for  the  historic  Christian  morality.  We 
recognize  and  welcome  those  numerous  voices  from 
outside  our  fold  that  daily  join  themselves  to  us  in 
regretting  the  destruction  of  a  supreme  moral 
tribunal  among  Christians  that  could  alone  ef- 
ficiently avert  the  evils  of  war,  alone  persuade 
whole  peoples  to  a  hearty  reconciliation.  But  we 
listen  with  greater  veneration  to  those  words  of 
Leo  XIII.,  in  his  late  encyclical  on  Jesus  Christ, 
in  which  the  august  nonagenarian,  himself  one  of 

298 


CATHOLIC     CHRISTIANITY 

the  few  survivors  of  the  century,  points  out  the 
dangers  of  the  future  and  mingles  with  his  warn- 
ing the  words  of  remedy : 

"  So  great  is  this  struggle  of  the  passions  and  so  serious 
the  dangers  involved  that  we  must  either  anticipate  ultimate 
ruin  or  seek  for  an  efficient  remedy.  It  is,  of  course,  both 
right  and  necessary  to  punish  malefactors,  to  educate  the 
masses,  and  by  legislation  to  prevent  crime  in  every  possible 
way ;  but  all  this  is  by  no  means  sufficient.  The  salvation 
of  the  nations  must  be  looked  for  higher.  A  power  greater 
than  human  must  be  called  in  to  teach  men's  hearts,  awaken 
in  them  the  sense  of  duty,  and  make  them  better.  This  is 
the  power  which  once  before  saved  the  world  from  destruc- 
tion when  groaning  under  much  more  terrible  evils.  Once 
remove  all  impediments  and  allow  the  Christian  spirit  to  re- 
vive and  grow  strong  in  a  nation,  and  that  nation  will  be  heal- 
ed. The  strife  between  the  classes  and  the  masses  will  die 
away ;  mutual  rights  will  be  respected.  If  Christ  be  listened 
to  both  rich  and  poor  will  do  their  duty.  The  former  will 
realize  that  they  must  observe  justice  and  charity,  the  latter 
self-restraint  and  moderation,  if  both  are  to  be  saved.  Domes- 
tic life  will  be  firmly  established  by  the  salutary  fear  of  God 
as  the  lawgiver." 

The  Roman  Catholic  believes  that  no  teacher  of 
morality  that  the  world  knows,  or  could  create,  can 
ever  speak  a  more  true  and  noble  language,  or 
emphasize  his  teaching  with  greater  authority 
and  experience.  Every  word  is  coined  out  of  the 
common  Christian  treasury  of  truth,  and  is  re- 
ceived as  such  by  more  than  one-half  of  Christen- 
dom, not  only  because  it  corresponds  to  the  written 
records  of  the  life  of  Christ,  but  because  it  comes 
from  the  mouth  of  one  whom  He  has  set  up  among 

299 


GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

us  as  His  authorized  witness,  exponent,  and  mouth- 
piece. With  equal  masterliness,  the  pope  touches 
on  the  original  sin  of  our  public  life — its  rejection 
of  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  as  manifested  in  the  gospel 
and  the  history  of  Christianity: 

"  In  the  same  way  the  precepts  of  the  natural  law,  which 
dictates  respect  for  lawful  authority  and  obedience  to  the 
laws,  will  exercise  their  influence  over  the  people.  Seditions 
and  conspiracies  will  cease.  Wherever  Christianity  rules 
over  all  without  let  or  hinderance,  there  the  order  established 
by  Divine  Providence  is  preserved,  and  both  security  and 
prosperity  are  the  happy  result.  The  common  welfare,  then, 
urgently  demands  a  return  to  Him  from  whom  we  should 
never  have  gone  astray ;  to  Him  who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth, 
and  the  Life — and  this  on  the  part  not  only  of  individ- 
uals, but  of  society  as  a  whole.  We  must  restore  Christ  to 
this  His  own  rightful  possession.  All  elements  of  the  nation- 
al life  must  be  made  to  drink  in  the  life  which  proceedeth 
from  Him — legislation,  political  institutions,  education,  mar- 
riage and  family  life,  capital  and  labor.  Every  one  must 
see  that  the  very  growth  of  civilization  which  is  so  ardently 
desired  depends  greatly  upon  this,  since  it  is  fed  and  grows 
not  so  much  by  material  wealth  and  prosperity  as  by  the 
spiritual  qualities  of  morality  and  virtue." 

I  am  aware  that  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the 
unity  of  Christendom  are  very  great,  and  that 
to  many  minds  they  seem  hopeless.  Nevertheless, 
it  is  possible;  perhaps,  if  our  prayers  were  fervent 
enough,  this  incalculable  boon  would  be  again 
granted,  that  we  might  all  own  one  God,  one  faith, 
one  baptism.  Thereby,  we  would  again  bring 
to  bear  upon  the  new  life  that  opens  before  man- 
kind the  benign,  regenerating  influences  of  the  ex- 

300 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

ample  and  the  teachings  of  our  Lord,  but  this  time 
with  the  impact  of  a  common  unity.  Even  Me- 
lanchthon  recognized  its  necessity;  and  for  many 
years  the  theologians  of  the  Reformation  were  oc- 
cupied with  the  bases  of  such  a  step  as  might  have 
been  the  noblest  act  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The 
hope  clung  to  life  in  the  hearts  of  Grotius,  Leibnitz, 
George  Calixtus.  In  the  Anglican  Church,  Laud, 
and  perhaps  Usher,  cherished  the  same  desire. 
It  has  lived  a  cryptic  life  in  Oxford,  and  among 
a  small  number  of  the  more  spiritual  Anglican 
clergy.  Very  noble  souls,  like  Ambrose  de  Lisle 
Philips,  have  given  themselves  to  the  furtherance 
of  the  ideal.  Societies  exist  in  Germany  and 
France  for  that  purpose — societies  of  prayer,  per- 
suasion, and  example.  The  popes  have  never 
ceased  to  solicit  officially  the  wandering  families 
of  Christendom  to  come  back  within  the  common 
fold;  and,  while  the  Church  cannot  sacrifice  the 
truth  of  her  teaching,  in  all  other  ways  the  return 
would  be  made  easy.  She  has  only  deep  sorrow 
and  abundant  tears  for  the  dissensions  of  Chris- 
tendom, knowing  well  that  they  are  the  chief  cause 
of  the  persecutions  it  undergoes,  the  delay  of  its 
triumph  over  the  hearts  and  souls  of  men,  and  the 
rejoicings  of  its  eternal  enemies  that  at  last  they 
have  fixed  the  limits  of  its  influence  and  marked 
the  hour  of  its  downfall  and  ruin. 

J.  CARD.  GIBBONS. 

THE   END 


THE   HAWORTH   BRONTE 

WITH  BIOGRAPHICAL  INTRODUCTIONS 

BY  MBS.  HUMPHRY  WARD 


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WORKS 
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